it next_april 2010

8/9/2019 IT Next_April 2010

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Editorial

1A p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

On July 20, 2006, Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation made it mandatoryfor all researchers accepting itsgrant forHV/ADS research to share their scientific findings. Herewas a man whose company had reaped rich dividends from proprietary

IPs, and his foundation was now applying the commons philosophy to

another area.

It indeed had come full circle!

The Foundations frustration stemmed from the fact that decades of

professional secrecy among researchers had impeded development of an

AIDS vaccine.

Apparently, the Foundation considered that if researchers piggy-backed

on each others works, it would speed up the development process.

That exactly is what open is all about: making technologies and

researches accessible to the larger community towards larger goals and

benefits. Examples include the 1960s collaborative telecommunication

project (ARPANET) that led to the birth of the Internet in 1969, and the

more recent human genome sequencing project.

To quote Open Source Initiative president Michael Tiemann: free and

open source has opened innovation, and helped the world transcend the

limits of conventional industrialisation.

In fact, the modern day growth of automobile sector also owes it to the

open initiative led by Henry Ford, who challenged the two-cycle gasoline

engine patent owned by George B Selden and won it in 1911.

That led to the setting up of a new association (now Motor Vehicle

Manufacturers Association), which instituted a cross-licensing agreement

among all US auto manufacturers. While companies filed patents for

the technologies developed by them, these would be shared without any

financial consideration among all manufacturers.

Closer home, Indias White Revolution is yet another amazing story of

how a community led work shaped a massive success story called Gujarat

Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation or better still, the brand called

Amul.

What could be more telling of the shift to open than the fact that the world

is already talking about open source politics and open source governance,

in what amounts to having direct citizen inputs into the governance.

Gates all over are swinging inwards for open.

Making individual

work accessible to the

larger community is in

interest of larger goals

and benefits

Gates open

S H u B H e n D u p A r t H

Blogs To Watch!

Economic impact of FOSS in India

www.iimb.ernet.in/~rahulde/

RD_FOSSRep2009.pdf

Open source software web site

www.sourceforge.net

Your views and opinion matter

to us.Send your feedback

on stories and the magazine

at shubhendu.parth@9dot9.

in or SMS us at 567678 (type

ITNEXTyour feedback)


4/57

2 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

co

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esign/illustration:bineshs

hridharan

Contenta p r i l 2 0 1 0 V o l u m e 0 1 | i s s u e 0 4

16Page

For the latest technology up Dates go to itnext.in

sgs

22On a roll with openwareA do-it-yourself open source framework from an IT manager whos

been there, done itsuccessfully

24No more expensive upgrades!The leading foam maker is glad it switched to open source. The

new system runs 50% faster, is easy to scale and saves Rs 40 lakh

per annum

28 Can it get any cheaper?This retail nancing major saw its loan-and-collection system go live

at one-fourth the cost of a proprietary solution

36Run social media in safe modeWith enterprises planning to use Web 2.0 tools in a big way, internal

compliance is becoming the key to keeping silent threats posed by

social media at bay

06 o e CO, thin ie one

| Use the ASKscale to measure

when you are ready for the

CIOs role

bOss alk

30 linux i ettin etter on

the deto | Prakash Advani

debunks the numerous myths

that surround Open Source

vw

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/op.php? =195675030582

wtte:http://twtte.com/text

lkeihttp://www.ke.com/op? =2261770&tk=my_p_o

thesupporsysemhasbeensable

onheserverforquiesomeime,

andnowhesoryesbeeronhe

clienfronoo

gapsareclosing!


5/57

3a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

OpO08 ech : pocet-ie,

otherie too | by Venkatesh

Hariharan, Corporate Affairs

Director, Red Hat

11 Money wie: On the moe

no| by Vadiraj Aralappana-

var, Head-Mobile Applications,

MindTree

15-MMaag49 wht fi roject | A for

the user, by the IT manager ap-

proach is guarantee for disaster

50 Ofce Yo| Asanas for

BACK PAIN

52 irin? e rueoo |

Standardised recruitment, pros-

pect benchmarking and risk miti-

gation will help make a robust IT

stafng plan

54 security | 5 trends that will

shape information security in

2010

55 set your tore -

et | Drifting islands of unused

storage can be tapped to create

a large pool and to minimise

new buys

56 rinin Cender | 5 Ca-

reer booster courses for you

bg Q57o to deier ith o-

y sla?| Managing big ticket

enterprise IT projects

Cb Ca62lernin i oden| Lead-

ership comes from learning new

things and showing others how

to apply it to situations, says

Pushkar Raj, Manager IT for Ex-

press Retail Services

44Page

50

Page

tech race all win! | Zero legacies gaveprivate banks a jumpstart, but PSU banks got on IT fast

tracks toonow both are eyeing mobile banking

MaagM

Mnin Director: d Pamath raj sha

printer & puiher: vka gpta

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grou ditor: r ghaditor: shbhe Path

Conutin ditor: Pa Pahat

aocite ditor: shahwat d

sr Correondent: Jate sh

Dsg

sr Cretie Director: Jaya K naayaa

art Director: eh seehaa

aocite art Director: vK

Mner Dein: hae shekha

sr viuier: oop P, satoh Khwaha

sr Deiner: Paath r &

sals & Makg

vp se & Mretin: naee ha sh

(09971794688)

brnd Mner: shat razaa (09990388390)

tion Mner-ent & seci project:

Mahateh go (09880436623)

tion Mner Onine: nt Waa

(09811772466)

gM south: voh Kaappa(09740714817)

gM orth: Paa saa(09312685289)

gM wet: sach n Mhahka(09920348755)

aitnt brnd Mner: pta ga

pODCO & lOgsCs

sr. gM Oertion: shhaka M emath

production xecutie: va Mhate

loitic: MP sh, Mohame a,

shah shekha sh

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New Delhi110 001, India

printed nd uihed y vi gut for

Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt Ltd



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printed t: ntech Photothoaphe

B-240, Okhla PhaseI,


itnext.in

glas

Editorial 01

Letters 04

Industry Update 12

Open Debate 64

My Log 66

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6/57

INBX

4 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

Informaion ahoy! The 9.9 Media team has outdone itself. The maga-

zine is so rich in content that I could not figure out how to prioritise and

read. Do I look at virtualisation first or do I read the BI article? It was a

good problem to be confronted with, but that also brings up something

to think abouthow will the average reader prioritise and how will

they go through the magazine.

While there is a deluge of good and useful information in the magazine,

my suggestion is thatIT Nextshould device a way to make it easier for the

readers to grasp the information that is there in the articles.

Maybe one subject area can be covered in detail while another one can be

just touched upon. This approach will give readers some breathing space.

NND KUM pDMNBN

Founder Director| Career Weaver & SurgeForth Technoogies

Congraulaions! The March issue of the magazine has come out

very well. The cover is extremely eye catching and innovative. The

manner of introducing the magazine and people who made it happen

in different categories40 practical IT managers on tech trends, 10

influencers on best practices and 10 IT decision makers as editors is

really exceptional.

All the articles are admirable and very well related to the current

scenario. Articles like Enterprise sharpener where BI and BA have been

explained very well in todays

context, and Beyond e-mails

which talks of the fast emerging

trend of social networking have

been put across very well. Also,

experience sharing througharticles like Dare to lead reiterates

the core values and ethics.

The concept of sharing 10 best

practices brings in encouragement

and also provides a platform to

share the best of the industry. It

not only motivates the doer but

also illustrates the best initiatives

among the IT mangers community,

and facilitates more innovations

and best practices to happen.

On the whole, its a wonderful

coverage, full of knowledge and

wide experiences.

pETSTH MNKOT

Head-T | Sheea Foam

Really innovaive and amaz-

ing The March 2010 issue was

really innovative and amazing,

both in terms of concept and con-

tent. The participation of such

a large number of IT managers

itself is the proof of the pudding.

In fact, I was a little sceptical

when theIT Nextedit team called

me with the request to join one

of the editorial panels. After all,

this was only the third issue

and the plan that the entire

magazine would be written by the

readers themselves sounded too

ambitious. However, I am happy

to see that you guys have really

pulled it off very well.

SNJEEV SNH

Director-T | Eoch Exo

Erraum The price of Fujitsu

fi-6800 production scanner as

reported on page 65 in the Feb-

ruary 2010 issue of IT Next was

inadvertently mentioned as Rs

15,995. The company has clarified

that it is yet to announce its India

price. The error is regretted.

EDTO

(Note: Lettes ve been edited ini-lly, fo bevit y nd lity)

march 2010

www.linkedin.o/gops?gid=

2261770&tk=yg_gp_ov

300 ebes

The design and visual effect of this issue are good.

Content wise, the magazine has definitely made an

impact.However, it is difficult to go through the soft copy

in the format made available on the Net.While its always apleasure reading the magazine in a hard copy format, can you do

something to make the digital issue more readable?

S K plUSK

GMMarketing & T | Exce ndustries

T NEXT VlUES yOU FEEDBCK

We want to know what ou think about the magazine, and how we can make it

a better read. your comments wi go a ong wa in making IT NEXTthe re-

ferred ubication for the communit. Send our comments, comiments,

comaints or questions about the magazine [email protected].

1 0 IT NEXT | M A R C H 2 0 1 0 1 1M A R C H 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

P E O P L E

H A P P E N

W H O

M A D E I T

28Page

24Page

12Page

16Page

32Page

48Page

20Page

36Page

44Page

40Page

ENTERPRISE

MOBILITY

VIRTUALISATION

SECURITY

BI & BA

UNIFIED

COMMUNICATIONS

SOCIAL

MEDIA

DATACENTRE

TRANSFORMATION

GREEN

IT

XaaS

PRIVATE

CLOUD

IT NEXTtNkIt REERr h arm

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ttp://www.itnext.in/esoes/

gzine

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itnxt

nd send it to

567678*peil tes pply

A 9.9 Media Publication

MARCH 2010/ RS. 150VOLUME 01/ ISSUE 03

WEJUSTLOSTOUREDITTEAM!

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EXT

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1

|ISSUE

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6 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

Use theASKscale of attitude, skill and

knowledge to measure when you are

ready for the CIOs role

E

verybody yearns for professional

growth and promotion. Im sure

you as an IT manager also aspire

to be in the CIOs role at some point

in your career, sooner the better.

In todays agile organisations, experience and

knowledge alone do not guarantee a journey

to the top of the IT organisation ladder. There

are other important factors that distinguish a

budding CIO from the rest of IT managers.

Sure, ambition is one of the important factors.

Yet, in the course of my long professional career,

I have seen many ambitious and technically

competent persons who did not succeed in

making it to the big club.

Often, I have pondered over the subject and

have come to believe that while ambition is

important, there is a trait more that is perhaps

even more important. Thats attitude or the

mindset. It plays a very vital role in developing

leadership traits in a person.

What exactly is attitude and how does one get it?

Well, attitude can be defined as a behavioural

trait of individuals as which they come to exhibit

as they carry out day-to-day affairs at work or

at home. Often these traits are either genetically

coded or imbibed early in life, at home and during

the school days. These traits mean that faced

by the same set of problems, different people

react differently. While some take a problem as

an opportunity many others tend to see it as a

challenge. Now that is what I call an attitude.

How do you get an attitude, or the right

attitude? Like I said, part of it is encoded and part

of it is imbibed. So go, work on it, if you lack it.

Let me illustrate.

The CIOs role has changed dramatically over the

past decade or so. No longer is he the technologist

who looks after the companys IT infrastructure.

The CIO is now more of a confidante of the

CEO, who keeps finding new ways to increase

To b CIO,tink ik on

l e a e r h I p

the top-line while working to reduce the expenses.

The CIO today is a business leader, who is often a

face of the organisation dealing with customers,

vendors and employees. Thus IT managers must

not only have sound technology knowledge, they

should have good people management skills. They

also need to measure actions in terms of financial

considerations and scales like RoI and TCO.

So, how will you know that you are ready?

Actually, its not very difficult. Keep weighing

yourself on the ASK scaleattitude, skill and

knowledge. While knowledge and skill can

be gained over a period of time, one needs to

consciously work to acquire the right attitude.

Just like a good mentor can help you pick up

skills fast, a mentor can give you tips to develop

the right attitude too. And most often, an indulgent

boss is a good mentor too. So if you have such a

boss, maybe you have already got what you need.

Once you have imbued the right attitude too,

it is often a matter of time that you step into the

CIOs shoes. Remember that to be a CIO, you

have to think like one.

The author, GMT at Bank of ndia, has over three

decades of experience and prefers to be known more as a

banker than a technologist

T book Wo

Kid Cng is

businss b

tt tcs

ognistions ow

to co succss-

fuy wit cng

SGGST BX

Writer: Ken Blanchard

PuBlisher: harPer collinsPrice: inr 150.00

boss talk | Pa Kalyanasundar


8/57

OpiniOn

8 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

PhotograPh

y:gireeshg

v

OpiniOn

E

nterprises have been

waiting for technologies

to reach high functional

standards and want to

understand how mobility

can impact their business processes. So

far, its mostly been a few early adopters

that have been deploying mobility solu-

tions, with mobile e-mail leading the

way. However, this is set to change over

the next few years with mobility grow-

ing from just a good-to-have factor to an

essential part of the IT infrastructure.

Companies take two different

approaches to justifying their mobility

initiatives. Some organisations focus

on cost-cutting measures and benefits,

while others focus on mobility solutions

to achieve larger business benefits like

productivity increase or customer

service improvements.

Interestingly, a recent Forrester

analysis says that approximately 40%

of firms are planning to cut the number

of employees who qualify for corporate-

liable mobile data services, and a similar

percentage of organisations will decrease

the number of employees who qualify for

corporate-liable mobile voice services.

This is an indication that

organisations expect productivity

improvements with the use of mobility.

Firms continue to use mobile

investments to enhance the productivity

of employees who are truly mobile such

as sales professionals, field service

professionals, and logistics personnel.

Then there are also categories of

employees who work out of their

desks. There are mobile applications

that can serve this category as well for

the customer care team, allowing

the customer care reps to focus on

addressing complex customer issues.

As per a survey conducted byForrester, mobile sales force automation

(SFA) systems are on the radar of the

companies and 25% of them are either

piloting or using some kind of mobile

SFA systems. Another 23% appear to

be considering mobile SFA in some

manner in the coming year. This

indicates that there is a tremendous

interest in this mobile line of business

application compared to rest of the

mobile applications that can be

deployed in an enterprise context.

Mobile SFA solutions have existed

for quite some years now in different

forms. Earlier, they were deployed

on the rugged proprietary handheld

devices. However, certain smartphones

are now gaining acceptance as a device

option for field forces, in part because

they offer higher functionalities for a

relatively lower cost.

These smartphones are typically

the ones based on newer versions of

operating systems that are open to third-

party application development. Their

mass market availability has created a

wide variety of affordable form factors

that span the continuum of voice and

data-centric features. Enterprises are

evaluating smartphones as the main

device for certain types of field workers

for three reasons:

l To show an always-connected status

l Their ability to act as the users

primary communication terminal

l As a platform for mobilising

enterprise applications

From an Indian perspective,

Blackberry has gained a good

acceptability as a platform of choice

because of the functionality that RIM

provides. However, companies are also

evaluating lower-cost solutions and even

home-grown solutions that can meet their

specific enterprise mobility needs.

The author is a hands-on communications and

wireless expert with over 12 years of experience

in the mobility space

Multi-pronged benetsand newer platformsmake enterprisemobility viable and amust have

productivity improvements.

Mobile applications are also being

used by some companies to maintain

and improve customer relationships

and satisfaction levels. The applications

in this area can range from mobile

CRM solutions and mobile inventory

management solutions to mobile asset

management solutions that can provide

real-time data to the employees and in

turn the customers.

This has resulted in significantly

decreased calls from field reps to

th tkvrj rPPnvr

head-Mobile pplicaios, Midtee

On the movenow


9/57

1 1a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

OpiniOn

Q

uality. Price. Service. Pick

any two, said a very suc-

cinct placard at Damo-

dars tailoring shop.

Damodar was among the

best in the tailoring business and he def-

initely knew what he was talking about.

However, in the software industry,

the emergence of open source software

(OSS) no longer allows a vendor to

dictate terms. The new catch phrase is

pick all three and not pick any two.

Take quality for a start. Studies by

Coverity have found that the number

of defects per thousand lines of code is

lower with OSS than with proprietary

software.

One of the most famous sayings in the

OSS community is that many eyes make

bugs shallow. The open, transparent,

community driven development model

of open source has lead to the creation

of some of the most robust software

systems ever built.

Those who have migrated from

proprietary server operating systems to

open source systems will happily testify

to this fact. Is it any surprise that 466 out

of the top 500 supercomputers in the

world run on Linux? Or that mission

critical applications like telecom billing

solutions, stock exchanges and others

are increasingly moving to Linux and

other OSS systems?

On the price front, the industry has

had to deal with the forced upgrade

cycles, vendor lock-ins and hugely

bloated software licenses imposed by

proprietary software vendors. While

the development model of OSS is

community driven, many commercial

vendors have built business models

intelligence, enterprise portals, content

management systems and many others.

On the service front, everything

boils down to how well the softwareis implemented and supported. In

OSS, commercial vendors usually sell

their services in the form of annual

subscriptions that have to be renewed.

And the quality of services rendered

to the client determines whether

subscriptions are renewed or not.

This gives OSS vendors an inherent

incentive to offer good quality services.

This gives IT mangers the confidence to

actively consider OSS while procuring

software, especially where the OSS

option is mature and meets their

functional requirements.

At a macro level, OSS is also becoming

a key component in IT solutions. A

Gartner study estimates that by 2012,

80% of all commercial software will

have some OSS components embedded.

Market research group IDC said

that open source software is gaining

enormous momentum and constitutes

the most significant all-encompassing

and long-term trend that the software

industry has seen since the early 1980s.

A study done by Prof Rahul De

of IIM Bangalore, on the economic

impact of OSS in India says that OSS

can help India save Rs 10,000 crore.

These factors necessitate a shift from

opportunistic, piecemeal, tactical

adoption of OSS to making OSS an

integral component of the overall IT

strategy.

Given the recent downturn in the

economy, cost has been one of the

drivers for organisations turning to

OSS. However, to be moneywise, they

should focus on all three aspects

quality, price and service.

In this context, I cannot resist quoting

from another placard in Damodars tailor

shop. I have no quarrel with competitors

who charge less. They know the value of

their goods and services.

The author is a journalist turned open source

evangelist who works on policy issues like open

standards and collaborative innovation

To be moneywise,IT managers shouldfocus on all threeaspectsquality,price and services

Pocket-wise,otherwise too

around service and support for OSS

deployments.

Many top-notch system integrators

around the world routinely incorporate

OSS in the solutions they offer to

their clients. Unlike their proprietary

competitors, OSS vendors do not have

to incur huge development costs and

this enables them to offer high quality

software implementations at prices lower

than proprietary software vendors.

The good news for IT managers

is that OSS is no longer restricted to

infrastructure software categories like

operating systems and middleware, but

has expanded to encompass application

areas like CRM, ERP, business

mny wVnkh hhn

Corporate ffairs Director, ed hat


10/57

update

1 2 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

PhotograPhy:Photos.c

om

trends

deals

Prducts

services

PePle

TECH TDNGS | SAP has significantly upgraded its Business Objects

(BO) BI OnDemand offering. The offering now consolidates SaaS

offerings and presents simpler interfaces for new BI adopters.

The upgraded SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand unites and

replaces two formerly distinct offeringsCrystalReports.com and

the past version of BI OnDemand, which was based on the SAP

BusinessObjects XI BI suite.

The new service delivers a single environment in which users

SAP revamps BI on

demand offerings

can harness online versions

of familiar tools, including

Crystal Reports for reporting,

Web Intelligence for query

and analysis, Xcelsius

as a dashboard and data

visualisation, and SAP Business

Objects Explorer for fast,

in-memory data analysis.

According to SAP, the new

offering delivers a very intuitive,

guided workflow for people

of any expertise level. The

backbone of the service is a

simple to explore report-share

workflow. In the exploration

phase, users can find and

blend data from their own

desktops and corporate sources

without being an information

management guru, the

company said.

The upgrade is also aimed

at enabling people with no

prior BI to experience access,

explore, visualise, and share

data, without actually needing

to switch between applications.

It also gives users the ability

to access all on-demand and

on-premise dataincluding

SAP data and data from

the Salesforce customer

relationship management

(CRM) application.

It is an on-demand solution

for creating ad-hoc reports,

conducting what-if analyses,

and securely sharing this

information inside or outside the

company, SAP said.

The company also announced

that the offering will include

flexible pricing and ease

deployment scaling features.

However, SAP is yet to announce

the pricing and details of data

integration options.

The new BI

OnDemand

unites Crys-

talReports.

com and the

previous

version of BI

OnDemand

Updatei n d u s t r y

surce: ecnmic imPact f fss in india by iim-b (sPnsred by red hat india)

70000

60000

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40000

30000

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0 2011

2009

2010

Enterprise

ses refer tobk orders

from rgeorgnistions

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nterrises an save s 46,388 miion in 2010 if they seFOSS in hf of their new Cs(FGuES N S MllON)

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50,82255,257

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2013

2012


11/57

1 3a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

cu you LA

Fortinet hs nched new enterprise thin

ccess prodct ine for high performnce

wireess networking. t enbes bsinesses

to contro network ccess, with singe

consoe nd heps

monitor regtory

compince.

upGAd you MAc MMoy

Strontim hs introdced the new Mc

Memory mode mde especiy for Mc-

book, Mcbook ro nd

iMc sers. The new mod-

es re vibe s 2GB

singe piece, 4GB singe

piece, 4GB kit or 8GB kit.

poAbL oAG oLuo

Segte hs introdced new portbe

storge sotions nder the

Bckarmor series. The so-

tions re designed to meet

the digit sset mngement

needs of enterprises, with no

or imited T spport.

TECH allaNCE |HP and

Polycom have decided to join

hands to consolidate their video

conferencing market share.

Under the agreement, while HP

will sell Polycoms video and

voice solutions for unified com-

munications. HP will deliver

its stand-alone solutions as part

of the companys Unified Com-

munications and Collaboration

Services portfolio.

The partnership aims to

enable enterprises leverage the

expertise of HP and Polycom for

implementing and supporting

communications systems

to achieve high return on

HP, Polycomto collaborateon video conferencing

interoperable collaboration

solutions that give customers

greater flexibility and

investment protection for their

UC environment.

The deal, according to

industry sources, will intensify

the already heated competition

between HP and Cisco. Notably,

Cisco, which had been providing

a range of video-based offerings

to HP, recently disengaged their

reseller agreement.

Cisco has also been moving

aggressively into data center and

server fields, which traditionally

have been strong areas for HP,

some years back.

According to industry analyst

firm Gartner, total demand for

visual communication solutions

and services is projected to reach

US $8.6B, with a compound

annual growth rate of 17.8%

between 2008 and 2013.

Deal will

intensify the

competition

between HP

and Cisco

With large businesses increasingly turning to video

as an alternative to cut travel cost, tele-presencesolutions have been the major gainer. Revenues

for ready-built tele-presence suites in Asia-Pacic

grew an estimated 71.1% in 2009, up from 46.6% in

2008. For 2010, Frost & Sullivan expects a growth of

64.4%, with revenues of just over US $73.0 million

by year-end. The market is expected to grow at

a CAGR of 22.9% (2009-2015) per annum, before

touching US $110.1 million by end-2015.

arund the Wrld

Tee-preence mrkettogrow by 64% in 2010

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GowG 100%. w AGowG A hA h

MAk, whch GowG

A L hA 100%. w oMou oppou

o Gowh dA

investment.

The strategic relationship

will also support Polycoms

open collaboration network

strategy to provide open and

quick byte


12/57

update

PhotograPhy:Jayankn

arayanan

1 4 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

so: mait

7.3PC sals

f 2009-10xPCTdT Css

uTsmn

TECH TENDS | Manufacturers Asso-

ciation for Information Technology

(MAIT) has announced that the total

PC sales in the country during the

October-December (OND) 2009 quar-

ter jumped 42% over the same

period last fiscal to touch a

record 20 lakh volume. This

includes desktop computers,

notebooks and netbooks.

According to the report, the

sales of desktops stood at 1.35

million (13.5 lakh) units, while

netbooks and notebooks

taken together recorded a massive

growth 27% and 90% respectively, on

a YoY basis. In terms of volume, India

bought 0.66 million (6.6 lakh) netbooks

and notebooks during the period.

The study was conducted

by market research firm

IMRB and is a bi-annual

study conducted to address

the hardware sectors efforts

to manage the business

environment, gauge the

market potential and

consumer trends.

TECH TDNGS | Microsoft has

announced that it will launch its

latest office version MS Office

2010 by this year. The software

major has confirmed that it will

begin shipping the product to

business users and partners

from May this year.

The latest version of the office

suite boasts of online versions of

MS Word, Power Point and One

Note. This move was perhaps a

necessity, rather than the option

for the company. The online

version would help the company

fight the growing popularity

of Google Docs as an online

alternative to MS Office.

Microsoft had already

released the beta version of MS

Office 2010 and related web

applications in November 2009.

The company has also announced

that it will discontinue Microsoft

Works platform, which will be

replaced by Office Starter 2010, a

India bought 42%more PCs in Q3: MAIT

Microsoft to releaseOfce 2010

IT NEXT:h l rate te

enterrise mile VA fferings n te

matrit rve?

AhAL: athogh mobie VaS offer-

ings re mtre for enterprise cstomers

otside ndi de to vibiity of 3G, the

sme is not tre of the offerings in ndi.

However for enterprises, who re redy

to extend mobiity to their empoyees, the

sme offerings cn esiy be cstomised.

There re mny innovtive ppictions

ike mobie conferencing, m-Commerce

spport nd SMS trcker to mnge sppy

chin isses tht wi see wide cceptbi-

ity mongst enterprises in coming yers.

h an managers leverage tese

fferings t ra siness enets

fr teir rganisatins?

T mngers extending mobiity to their

empoyees wi see incresed prodctivity,

oyty, empoyee stisfction by sge

of these ppictions. For instnce, there

wod be no need to come bck to ofce to

downod proposs, nd pod ses dt.

wat are te majr eterrents inatin f mile sltins?

Enterprises tody nderstnd the techno-

ogy we. However, chenges ike device

provisioning, different browsers prefer-

ences, ck of secrity mechnisms, nd

ineffective mngement contro cn bock

the cceptbiity of these sotions. t is

hence crci for n T mnger to mke

comprehensive rodmp to mke sre

tht the mobiity projects re sccessf.

By Jtinder Singh

Vw

aBHa aTHal

CT, CnvsM

The latest version

includes online

versions of MS

Word, Excel,

Power Point and

One Note

basic home productivity

software.

According to the

company, the Share Point

Workspace 2010 will

allow users reconnect

their laptop to the

network with ease as the

changes they make offline

will get synchronised. The

consumer would have to

shell US $499 for a box of

professional edition, and

US $279 for the home and

business edition.


13/57

update

1 5a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

TECH TDNGS | IBM has announced

plans to go online with its commercial

cloud service for software develop-

ment and testing and is now allowing

enterprise and government clients to

test and develop applications on IBM

Cloud.

Following a successful beta

program, IBM is working with

partners in cloud management, cloud

security, software development and

testing support to provide businesses

with a mix of flexibility, scalability,

enterprise-grade security and control

for development and test on the IBM

Cloud.

IBM announces cloudplans

The new development will help in

reducing cycle times from weeks to

minutes and eliminate software defects

by up to 30%. Experts suggest that

while an average enterprise devotes

up to 50% of its entire technology

infrastructure for development and

testing, up to 90% of it usually remains

idle.

The new developerWorks Cloud

Computing resources provide a

single point of entry to beta and

production cloud environments, as

well as a place for visitors to learn

how to make the most of cloud

computing initiatives.

Cien hs nnonced tht it hs

cqired the optic nd crrier

Ethernet bsiness of Norte. With

over 1,000 cstomers spred

cross 65 contries, Norte hd

been considered eder in

this mrket. The cqisition is

expected to cceertes Ciens

position to everge nd innovte

in next-genertion networks

The uS $773.8 miion, -csh

cqisition, wi crete the words

rgest sppier excsivey

focsed on converged optic Eth-

ernet. The compny, s prt of the

integrtion process, hs seected

senior mngement for the new

entity.

Cien frther informed tht it

wod retin 85% of Norte em-

poyees. hiippe Morin, previosy

president of Norte MEN, hs been

ppointed Ciens SV, Gob

rodcts Grop.

Owing to its bnkrptcy ing

nd the economic downtrn,

Nortes Ethernet bsiness hs

sffered decine of 21% from

yer go.

The compny is expected to n-

nonce comprehensive portfoio

pdte by the end of this month.

netWrking

ciena srtels

ternetsinessThe new planswill help inreducing

cycle time

and eliminate

software

defects by up

to 30%

IBM loves Its own cookIngThe company is doing whaT iT preaches iTs cusTomers: mke compting environment

more efcient nd ess expensive, sys BM CO t Tooe t n nyst meet | Sandy Kemsley in

The blog reports that IBM has consolidated 100 data warehouses into a singleCognos environment for 80,000 internal users in their Blue Insight initiative.It expects to add another 30 applications and double the user base in a year.IBM also turned on LotusLive web conferencing for all employees to use for

internal and external meetings, logging 200 million minutes last year.

s @

l


14/57

1 6 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

By ShaSh wat DC

gapsareopen_source

The age old war between the two technologiesopen source and pro-

prietary software is still very much on. Like the proverbial good versus evil

clash, one camp is eager to paint the other camp in black.

Lost somewhere in the debate is the real issue. The question one really

needs an answer for is which of the two is cheaper, secure, and easier to

maintain.

What is in a debate?One of the issues that lot many experts often raise is: are open source and

proprietary comparable in the first place?

Open source has been around for several decades, thanks to the

mainframe legacy, where the computer belonged to the technologist.

A breed of technologists emerged who believed in technology for

the sake of technology. The proprietary software is a relatively later

phenomenon when the likes of Bill Gates and Paul Allen started dealing

in software for profit.

the_support_system_has_been_stable_on_the_server_for_quite_some_time,_and_now_the_story_gets_better_on_the_client_front_too


15/57

1 7a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

closing!open_source


16/57

1 8 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

For the last three decades, the war between open

source and proprietary has continued, with the

technologists driving open source movements and

marketers gunning for proprietary stuff.

As such, the very characteristics of the two wares

have been different, much like the chalk and thecheese. And yet, in the unending battle to be one-up,

both camps have also picked up some good features

from the other side and improved their offerings.

However, for the IT managers, whose prime

concern is to ensure that their IT infrastructure is

safe, secure, up and running, what really matters

is what is affordable and causes lesser headache.

Indeed, there has to be a comparison to arrive at

the right IT decision, but the ideological debate is

frivolous. The two paradigms are to be compared

only from an operational standpoint.

Lets do the comparison.

s it CA versus CO?One will certainly like to start with a cost compari-

son. So for example, how much does it cost to put

up a Microsoft server versus a Linux server with

similar sets of specifications? That should tell us the

story. Sadly, it does not.

The devil apparently lies in the detail. So while

open source systems are indeed inexpensive to

implement compared to proprietary systems,

there are a lot of other costs involved, namely

administrative and training costs. Because of the

pervasiveness of proprietary systems like Microsoft,

getting people to work on MS Word is much easier

than on an OpenOffice Word processor. And

therefore, often the argument is that rather than

focussing the total cost of acquisition (TCA), it is

better to focus on the total cost of operation (TCO)

over the systems lifecycle.

Yet, experts have noted that even on a TCO front,

certain open source systems, especially on the server

side, work out to be cheaper.

How free is an open ware?It is a known fact that for proprietary systems, the

biggest cost component is the licensing. While there

are some discounts for enterprise systems compared

to home and consumer systems, it still turns out to

be hefty. The basic argument is that this high cost

ensures that companies are able to invest in R&D

and are thus able to release improved versions.

But then there are vendors in the open source

space too, who also come out with new releases of

their open source wares at a steady pace. They also

provide support on operational fronts, for a fee, just

like the proprietary guys do.

These include the likes of Red Hat, Canonical,

Balwant Singh, Head , ndo Asian

Fusegear

Definitely, open source gives you a lot of benefits

in terms of cost saving, lower downtime, robust

and secured system and better performance

compared with the proprietary software. Our current operations

rely extensively on Linux and other open source software and solu-

tions to provide state-of-the-art redundant services with unparal-

leled reliability and the lowest possible TCO. At present, we have

70 servers and 1,000 systems across 25 locations in Asia, and all

of them are running on Linux OS and open source software.

SK Goel, Vice President, Om Logistics

We have more than 3,500 desktops and around

300 servers across the country in 450 locations.

All desktops are running on Fedora core and

servers on RHEL. We have eight IT executives,who maintain all desktops across the country. Our desktops range

from PIII to Dual Core. Even PIII desktops are working fine with

Red Hat 7.0 Linux without any problem. I personally feel that com-

paring Linux with proprietary is software is like comparing a BMW

with Nano. I see Linux as a BMW where safety, security and stabil-

ity are prime concerns, along with other features.

ikunj Karia, Assistant Manager-, DV

With unrestricted access to the source code to

run or modify at will, and support coming from

an ad hoc collection of software developers and

fellow users, the open-source model is very dif-

ferent from proprietary software. Whether open source software

is less costly to administer than proprietary software depends

largely on a ready pool of resources trained on the system, the

availability of administration tools that allow system administra-

tors to manage a greater number of systems, and the number of

version upgrades and patches that are issued by the developer.

Satish Mahajan, Head -nfrastructure,

Raymonds

If you select open source software, its a chal-

lenge to get the right updates for removing bugs

or adding new features. Another important fac-

tor is change management. This is one of the biggest challengesthat IT professionals face. Technically, everything is possible but

how about the acceptability at the users end. We need to look at

that as one of most important factors, while considering shifting to

open source. Study has shown that enforcement of policy from top

has always helped in this change management.

Shiva Shankar, VP& Head- nfrastructure

& Security-Operations & ngineering, Reli-

ance Communications

Human psychology is to stay in a comfort zone.

When thats challenged, there is a reverse-kick.

Nevertheless, if there is a sound back-end or an in-house system

Does open source work out cheaper

than proprietary software?

>>Next

open_source


17/57

1 9a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

Novell and even IBM, and of

course, Sun (now Oracle).

Support for an open source

ware from an established vendor

helps address support-related

issues from the IT managersview and is indeed a welcome

thing.

While this makes the cost

differential between proprietary

and open source look a little less

big, it increases the managements

confidence in the solution.

he manageabilityissueProponents of proprietary sys-

tems also highlight the fact that

managing an open source system

is fairly complex and cumber-

some. The notion that you need

to be a hardcore geek to be able

to tinker around with kernels has

been much perpetuated over the

years.

However, while that was true

earlier, the scenario has rapidly

changed over the past few years.

With the open source vendors

paying a lot of attention to GUI

and ease of use, there is not much

difference left between the two.

In fact, were you to compare

an Ubuntu with Microsoft

Windows, there will only be

nominal differences between the

two. The open source players

have understood that to reach out

to the mass user base, they need

to engage them with simplicity. So

one need not be a geek anymore

to implement and operate an open

source system.

More secure?A big factor that has worked in

favour of open source systems is

that it is seemingly more secure

and robust, as there have not

been any major malware affec-

tive Linux-based systems. Since

Linux is a derivative of UNIX

which was built on the founda-

tion of robustness and security, it

is often dubbed as robust.

Microsoft Licensing cost (iDsP)

Item Unit Cost (US$) Quantity Total Cost (US$)

Operating System

Server 3,999 15 59,985

Proxy Server 1,499 01 1,499

MSSQL Server 739 01 739

Client 125 134 16,750

Anti Virus 50 149 7,450

Ofce Application 350 134 46,900

Total Cost US$ 1,33,323

PKR 79,99,380

oPen source Licensing cost (iDsP)

Server Ubuntu/Centos US$ 0

Client Ubuntu/Fedora US$ 0

OpenOfce Bundled

Anti Virus No Need

PDF Writer Bundled

PDF Viewer BundledDownload Manager Bundled

Mail Client Bundled

Graphic Design Application Bundled

PostgreSQL Bundled

five Years tco (us$)

Microsoft OpenOfce

(2006-10)

Operating System Server 2,36,460 0

Operating System Client 1,28,936 0

Anti Virus 37,250 0

Ofce Application 2,26,622 0

Deployment Cost 12,750 18,000

Total Cost 6,42,018 18,000

Source: PSEB-OSRC

Source: PSEB-OSRC

Source: PSEB-OSRC

open_source


18/57

2 0 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

engineering team which you can bank upon then you have won

half the battle. There is a lot of perception which also needs to be

massaged on the way. I know it will make a CFO smile but IT has

to struggle a lot before it becomes business as usual. TCO will be

little compared to owning a proprietary system and so there is will

be a positive ROI.

Binu Lakshman, Manager, at Honda Siel

Cars ndia

I think what was previously considered as a

Linux hype has slowly and steadily become a

successful and maturing phenomenon. With

the tough economic conditions and a focus on budget cuts, more

organisations started adopting open source. They have started

exploring it as an alternative to proprietary software. With the

open source community growing and maturing, it is definitely a

safe and cost-effective alternative to be embraced. I can definitely

vouch for open source products as ones that are here to stay. Open

source is winning the platform war for sure.

Alok Maheshwari, Head , erex Vectra

quipments

Open source ERP is cheap. Its not really free.

You can download, install and use it for free.

But most companies using any ERP system

will want 24/7 support, bug fixes and free upgrades. Almost all

open source ERP vendors offer some kind of support package. The

prices are very cheap, comparing to other offerings. Open source

software delivers major cost and implementation advantages over

traditional software. Hardware costs such as servers can be up to

50% lower with open source software, because the open sourcecode is less storage and processing intensive.

Ratnakar emani, Head & CO, VS

ndustries

Open source is cheaper than proprietary initially.

Licenses are free but they do not run on their

own. OS implementations require good in-house

team or consultants. We need to recruit skilled resources with

regular trainings and pay high salaries to retain them. Potential

Loss in terms of Knowledge is high when IT member leaves the

organisation. The cost will be three to four times even in case of

audits. Though the initial cost is zero, the operating expense (opex)

may be higher than TCO of proprietary software. That also puts

RoI under question.

SK Rudra, Manager (Group ), Usha Martin

We at Usha Martin were perhaps first in eastern

region of India to migrate in the scale of 700-plus

desktops from proprietary software to Linux in

2007. It was multi-location rollout consisting of

four manufacturing units and four marketing offices. I and SK Jala,

CIO, Usha Martin Group were project leaders. The implementation

teams strength was five, including both of us. Yes, today we can say

that we are reaping the benefits of the open-source technology in

terms of TCO as well as better levels of IT security.

Does open source work out cheaper

than proprietary software?


19/57



20/57

2 2 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

a_do-it-yourself_open_source_framework_from_an_T_manager_whos_been_there,_done_itsuccessfully

By Md. Jawed ahMed

on a roll withopenware

O ha that the use of open source applications in large enterprises has been increasing over the years.

But there is a marked divide on the kind of organisations that venture into open source area. Mostly, the adopters

are the educational institutes and the R&D organisations. Commercial enterprises still give open source a wide

berth. And the reasons are clear: enterprises still continue to face challenges in using open source applications.

Lack of support: No commitments are possible since support is usually on a best-effort basis, and that too

by a set of invisible virtual people.

Lack of a single point of responsibility: Since its not purchased, there is no commercial contract or a

transfer of risk to the vendor.

Lack of continuity: Open source initiatives are usually driven by innovative individuals in the IT

department. When they leave, they take their expertise with them leaving the organisations at a disadvantage.

However, despite these factors, its still possible to use Open Source applications successfully if enterprises

and IT managers use a framework approach to select applications.

We, at Sterlite, have been using open source applications quite extensively for the past three years. At present,

our file servers, Internet acceleration servers, security firewalls, mail servers, document management systems,

project management systems, storage servers, and desktop-level backup applications run on open source. Here,

we are not talking of a single location, but multiple, large manufacturing locations on multiple servers.

And, we are not running them because they are free. Thats a misconception that many people have. The

TCO might be less but its certainly not free. The kind of uptime and performance that we get is, if not better,

Open_sOurce


21/57

2 3a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

definitely as good as provided by

the commercial applications.

When you run a search, for any

single requirement, one will come up

with many applications. Logically,

as the next step we test them out ina development environment and

check out the different features

and their technical fitment with the

existing architecture. And then in

the end, we subject the application

to the enterprise litmus test for open

source. This is the clincher that

helps us take the final go or no-

go decision, particularly because

unlike commercial applications one

doesnt have a support agreement

to seek help from the vendor. So

it makes sense to check that the

application ecosystem is sound

before you commit your enterprise

to it.

Development activity: As

part of this criterion, one needs

to check how frequently updates

have been coming and what the

open bugs or feature requests are.

Very frequent updates or very

few updates are both problematic.

Frequent updates point to an

unstable system that requires

frequent tweaking whereas

delayed updates point to a dead

or dying development cycle. The

sweet spot, from our experience,

is around two to three updates

every year.Development roadmap:

Try to find out the roadmap as

envisaged by the developers.

There should be a plan for at least

18 months ahead. Lack of a clearly

defined roadmap normally points

to an impulsive application

lifecycle. For some applications

which are not very critical and are

small this can do. But generally

when you are planning to deploy

an application in an enterprise,

there has to be a clear enough

roadmap.

Forum activity: This is one

place where you can get lot of

information about the application.

First, check the activity on the

forum. There has to be a sizable

number of members and daily

updates with people asking

questions and getting answers.

Second, check that answers

should be provided by more than

one person. It should not be that

frwrk

Identify the application area

List down the available open source applications

Filter them out based on their technical fitment with ex isting IT architecture

Apply enterprise litmus test (read complete text to understand) to shortlisted apps

mplement

the

application

only one person is providing the

answers to all the questions raised

by members. Third, look at the

kind of questions being raised by

members. Is there any pattern? Is

there any feature that everyonesasking for? Or is there some

feature that is not working for lots

of people? You can go ahead and

ask questions yourself and see

what kind of responses you get.

Developer background:

You need to check the background

under which the application

development got started. How

many people are involved? Are

they from a common place or

whether the organisations are

spread out? Its better if they are

spread out.

Availability of commercial

support: First, you have to check

if there are organisations which

provide paid support. How is it

structured? Is it incident-based?

Can it be done remotely? Its

better if there is a mechanism for

commercial support.

And while all this information

can be conveniently sourced from

the developers site, do not forget to

share it with the entire eco-system

of your organisation. We have

developed this framework based

on our experience and have shared

it with other organisations as well.

Empirical evidence from them

also supports the framework.

By using the above mentioned

criteria, IT personnel can take

informed decision regarding

the fitment of the particular

application to an enterprises

requirements. If it does not have

a good fit, one can still use the

application, but in that case there

will be an impact on TCO. This is

because one needs to either take

external help or the IT department

will have to devote additional time

to the issues arising from the use

of the application.

The author is Head T (TB) at Sterlite

Technologies

Open_sOurce


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2 4 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

PhotograPhy:subhojitP

aul

the_leading_foam_maker_is_glad_it_switched_to_open_source._the_new_system_runs_50%_faster,_is_easy_to_scale_and_saves_s_40_lakh_per_annum

By Jatinder Si ngh

no more

expensiveupgrades!

Sla Foa


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2 5a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

Sla Foa

{Total

cost of

Rx series

servers (inRupees)}

Server 1:

5,86,628

Server 2:

5,52,285

Server 3:

5,75,100

Maintenance

cost/annum:

17, 14,013

SAN storage:

2,31,664

Annualmaintenance

cost:

19,45,677

Three year

maintenance

cost:

58,37,031

Three year

up-gradation

cost:

8,00,000

Total expense

(in three

years):

66,37,031

Dell Server

with three

years Gold

Support:

4,00,000

Net saving in

three years:

62,37,031

I he mids of a recovering

business environment, compa-

nies today are swiftly realising

the importance of aligning IT

requirements with their core

business needs. Given thatorganisations are no longer look-

ing at IT as a support function, IT

managers today are not hesitant

to evaluate technologies that are

value for money. The only catch

is: it should not compromise the

performance.

A year ago, Pertisth Mankotia,

Head-IT at Sheela Foam was

thinking on somewhat similar

lines. For his company, a Rs

950-crore group and among

the top five manufacturers of

slab stock polyurethane foam in

south-east Asia, the challenge

was to reduce dependence on

Unix systems, improve the cost-

efficiency ratio, and simplify

systems management to improve

scalability for business growth.

he genesisFounded in 1972, the firm has a

number of manufacturing units

in India. Also, there are more

than 70 distributors and 3,000

dealers. In order to manage its

operations effectively, the com-

pany ran an in-house ERP on a

legacy server in a proprietary

Unix environment.

The custom-built ERP was

integrated into Sheela Foams

distribution network. However,

owing to the proprietary system,

there was too much dependency

on the vendor to test and

implement the desired processes

to improve functionalities. This

was proving to be costly and time-

consuming.

Moreover, the legacy systemwas of limited use and the IT

department of the company

was unable to introduce new

applications for scalability. Since

the ERP solution was hosted on

a proprietary product, there was

very little room to customise

the home-grown ERP solution,

elaborates Mankotia.

he problemPrior to the migration to open

source, the company was using

three Rx (Itanium) series servers

and a SAN storage solution. The

approximate annual maintenance

cost with four hours of critical

support was more than Rs 65

lakh. And despite all that invest-

ment and cost, the performance

was not getting any better.

And then, when on a

penultimate day, the companys

system went down and took

more than 16 hours to recover,

Mankotia decided to put his bet

on an open source solution.

You can imagine my situation,

when my network got down for 16

hours. And I was in no position to

take any remedial action. It was

really hurting the business he

painfully recollects.

At the end of the day, any

system downtime takes a heavy

toll on the companys goodwill

and customer satisfaction fronts,

he remarked further.

Reflecting back, he also

feels that the incident came

as a blessing in disguise and

prompted the company toconsider migrating to an open

source solution that could be

independently maintained by an

internal IT team.

he solutionWith the proprietary solution, it

was difficult to try things out and

innovate even if one wanted to.

Things like setting up a rack and

clone servers were cumbersome

and costly affairs. With the open

source, there is always an oppor-

tunity to add new features and

manage them at a much lesser

cost.

After a careful analysis,

Mankotia and his team consulted

Dell for a product performance

demo. Through with the

successful trial, the company

decided to go for Dell PowerEdge

server with factory installed Red

Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

In April 2009, the company

deployed its home-grown

mission-critical ERP application

Greatplus that was hosted on

RHEL.

Despite all enthusiasm for the

new solution, the core IT team

at Sheela Foam had its moments

of anxiety as well, for there was

still an iota of doubt. Since the

previous legacy servers based

on the Unix platform were very

you can imagine my situation, when mynetwork got down for 16 hours. And I was inno position to take any remedial action. It was

really hurting the businessPrtISt ankotIa,

Head-IT aT SHeela Foam


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2 6 it next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

adding another low-cost server,

Mankotia says.

The saved rupees can be

better utilised on application

development, security hardening

and other areas that will further

help us to innovate and improve

offerings to customers and

internal users, he says talking

about the companys future plans.

Apart from offering reliability

and flexibility, open source has

also been useful in updating the

patches and fixes at much lower

cost.

We had various units and the

load was increasing. There were

certain reports that used to take

lot of time to analyse. Open source

has tremendously improved the

ability of the system to handle

such loads, says Charu Bhargava,

Business Analyst at Sheela Foam.

The uniqueness of this project

lies in migration of the mission-

critical application for India and

Australia (which carries a load of

approximately 1,500 concurrent

users) from high-end Unix servers

to the Red Hat Linux and Xeon

server in less than three weeks.

We can now choose from a

wide array of storage solutions.

There were many new features

like automated mailing which we

introduced after shifting to the

open source, adds Mankotia.

Earlier the processing work

was really slow and carrying out

rectifications based on customer

calls, was a big-time issue. After

the deployment of open source

there is more robustness and

prompt support. I am a relieved

man, says Vishal Aggarwal,

Assistant Manager-IT Support at

the company.

The new solutions has also

eliminated vendor lock-in,

doubled system performance,

slashed costs and given

the company the ability to

independently manage systems.

They also are able to focus

better on strategic issues to

boost the competitiveness of the

company.

Taking a step beyond, the

company has also integrated Open

Office with its Greatplus ERP for

1,000 terminals and has achieved

further cost savings.

high-end machines, the team was

not sure whether the new server

would be able to sustain the load.

During the first phase of trail,

the company replicated its ERP

system on the Dell PowerEdge

server, with a load of 300 users.

The load was increased to 1,000

users, in the second stage and to

their surprise the server handled

the load 50% faster than the

existing system.

he benefitsThis migration, to the surprise

of many, resulted in annual sav-

ings of Rs 40 lakh. Apart from

cost savings, Linux gave the

company a lot of flexibility in

terms of usage as well. Whats

more, RHEL has helped the firm

deploy its ERP on a single server,

compared to the two servers pre-

viously required.

In the earlier environment,

even a small increase in the load

over and above the threshold

capacity of the system, required

an expensive upgrade. With

RHEL and Dell, incremental

load can be easily handled by

there were certainreports that used to

take lot of time toanalyse. Open source hastremendously improvedability of the systemto handle such loads

Caru Bargava

BuSIneSS ana lyST aT SHeela Foam

Sla Foa


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this_retail_financing_major_saw_its_loan-and-collection_system_go_live_at_one-fourth_the_cost_of_a_proprietary_solution

By ShaSh wat DC

can it get anycheaper?

MMFSL

Also, since the aim was

to reduce cost and increase

productivity, it was decided that

open source would be used to

achieve the objective.

Exceptions were also defined.

For example, it was decided that

those constituting top 10% of the

management would be provided

any system they required,

based on their needs, closed or

proprietary.

The next 20% (in terms

of hierarchy) were also to be

provided with solutions that

suited them. However, it was

decided to encourage them to

use open solution, Shanmugam

informed. For the remaining

70%, the decision was clear: the

Ss Smm, Head

BITS, Mahindra & Mahindra

Financial Services (MMFSL),

should have been a contented

man with the robust growth that

his company was able to post on a

year-on-year basis.

Yet, even as hundreds of

company agents from its around

500 branches went about the

country financing loans and

collecting payments, Shanmugam

was constantly thinking of

ways and means to automate or

technolise the whole process.

Could there be a mechanism

by which collections by agents

instantly reflected in the central

database? Also, could the central

server send alerts to customers

confirming that their payments

had been received? MMFSL

needed all these, and much more,

but at an affordable cost.

Getting startedPrior to deciding on a solution

that would work best for the com-

pany, Shanmugam asked his team

to map the users of the company

on the basis of their roles and

requirements. An in-depth study

was also done to access how the

agents interacted with custom-

ers, and what were the specifica-

tions of the transactions that were

carried out. Based on the study

findings, the team put together

specifications that would best suit

the organisations growth plans.

{*Improve-

ment incustomer

confidence

as the pay-

ments made

by them is

updated

online and

acknowledg-

ment sent via

SMS}

nation of

duplica-

tion in data

capturing

(from manual

documents),

leading to a

reduction of

back-office

manpowerto

half >

< Over 96%

reduction in

connectiv-

ity, power

and other

recurring

costs >


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2 9a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

MMFSL

workforce would be moved on

to the open source systems in a

phased manner.

he solution

To automate the business pro-cesses, the team set about search-

ing for a handheld device that

would enable the company run

the necessary business solution.

The proposed solution aimed at

establishing a seamless linkage

between the companys custom-

ers and a centralised database.

After much deliberation and

search, and close to 22 failed

attempts, Shanmugam and his

team were finally able to identify

one of the smaller hardware

vendors to design a solution

that mapped with the MMFSL

needs. And thus MFConnect was

born, a handheld that supported

automating the processes.

The company decided to take

up a new area not automated

so far. Along with the partners,

MMFSL went in for the

development of software for

recording the happenings in the

field instantly through handheld

devices. Three specific areaswere chosenreceipt generation,

customer commitment recording

and capturing of data pertaining

to the visit.

Over a period of time, close

to 3,000 such devices were

introduced within the company

with remarkable success. Based

on the feedback from the use of

MFConnect, in 2008-09, MMFSL

went for the next generation of

handheld devices, dubbed as

BizConnect.

The BizConnect devices were

revolutionary in the sense that

each of these devices could

support biometric, camera

operation, voice-recording and

signature capturing. Thus the

agent on the field could now

take customers photograph,

record their voice affirmations

(in case they were illiterate),

use biometric thumb scans, and

update all the information to a

centralised database using a GSMconnection.

All the applications and

software used in the machine

were open source, and that really

helped us significantly bring

down the cost of the handhelds,

explains Shanmugam, adding

that while similar handheld

devices had a price tag of

around Rs 90,000 per piece, the

BizConnect cost the company less

than one-fourth of the amount.

The decision to get a

custom built device that could

run on open platform proved

an extremely cost-effective

proposition for the company, he

reiterated.

Today, there are close to 1,000

such devices, and Shanmugam

intends to steadily replace the

earlier MFConnect devices with

the upgraded ones. So far, he

did not have any major hassles

with the devices after the initial

issues had been ironed out. He

is extremely happy with the

performance of these devices and

now, a content man, because he

could achieve all of what he had

set out for in a very cost-effective

manner.

An open source enthusiast

now, Shanmugam along with his

core team is already thinking of

the next big automation project

for the company.

all the applications and software used in themachine were open source, and that reallyhelped us signicantly bring down the cost of

the handheldsSureSh ShanMugaM

Head BITS, MMFSL

The sysTem

archiTecTure

Web service side

archiTecTureWeb server

build-ouT and

deploymenT

mobiliTy

archiTecTure

sQliTe 3 as

daTabase

os

redhaT linux

proprieTary sdK

from The device

vendor

os

linux

QuarTz 1.x for

scheduled jobs

Ws

TomcaT apache

c++ for

applicaTion

encrypTed

xml for daTa

Transfer

sQliTe3 as

daTabase


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PhotograPhy:subhojitP

aul

How has the journey for Ubuntu been so far?

Ubuntu started five years ago when many of the Linux distributions were not even

focussing on the desktop, believing it would be unsuitable for the purpose. We started with

the desktop and today we are the No. 1 Linux distributor in the space.

We continue to evolve and focus a lot on providing a great user experience, which has been our

key strength. We have made a lot of investment in creating better user experiencethere have

been lot of additions and enhancements from version 8.10 to 9.04, and the existing version 9.10.

We are now laying the foundation for the latest 10.04 version, which we call the long-term

supported Ubuntu. It will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the

server. One of the key driving philosophies behind Ubuntu is that it is free and will always

remain so; that has helped us a lot in terms of market share gains. Its a good alternative to

the established players in the market. And today enterprises are deploying Ubuntu, and

governments and education sectors are also looking very seriously at Linux on the desktop.

linux is getting

better on thedesktop

prakash advani


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prakash_advani


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Today, the largest numbers of

Internet servers are Linux servers.

Google runs Linux, Gmail is on

Linux, Amazon runs on Linux, and

so does eBay. Wikipedia is also on

Linux; in fact, they are an Ubuntu

customer. The upcoming Chrome

OS is based on Linux. Amazon

Kindle runs on Linux, many of the

set-top boxes and all the routers

The evidence is in the way open

source has become pervasive

over the years. We have the larg-

est collections of applications of

Linux. In fact, many of the anti-

virus gateways run on Linux,

and they dont get affected by

viruses. On the contrary, they

defend the Windows network

from there.

prakash advani

While Linux has found

much acceptance on

the server front, how would

you describe the shift to the

desktop front?

Actually, Linux is getting bet-ter on the desktop. The hard-

ware requirements of Linux are

decreasing with every deploy-

ment. We have done nine releases

of Ubuntu, and for the last eight

releases our hardware require-

ments have remained unchanged

at a 300 MHz computer with 256

MB RAM. And thats a big value

addition, as people who deploy

it do not need to keep upgrading

their hardware with every new

release of the OS.

The second thing is the

licensing fees. Even for the long-

term Ubuntu release, where

customers can use it for five

years; they do not have to pay any

fee. Only if they want support

from Ubuntu, they pay for the

support charges. So thats a big

plus and allows customers to try

and then commit themselves to

Ubuntu, unlike other OS.

It is run off a live CD or you

could even run it over a pen

drive. So we have reduced the

barrier to adoption. Also, what

has changed significantly is that

we work closely with all the top

OEMs, and we do a pre-installed

Ubuntu. What this essentially

means is that when customers get

a machine, it is ready to use with

the applications and OS, so there

is not much hassle in finding and

installing the OS.

But there is some hitch

associated with Ubuntu

because of the philosophical

bearings of Open Source,

wherein Linux is considered

to be complex and tough to

handle vis-a-vis proprietary

software. Has there been a

change in that mindset?

Of course there has been a big

shift from that arcane view.


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3 3a p r i l 2 0 1 0 | it next

run on Linux. Today, some very

large banks are using Linux, for

them obviously cost is not a factor,

security is. Many of the CIOs I have

spoken to say they want UNIX or

Linux and nothing else.

You have spoken about

the user experience on

Ubuntu, how much of that is

a priority?

Linux has been the blue eyed

project of the developer commu-

nity. Yet, there is a significant por-

tion of people who will not opt for

your system, unless it is easy and

simply to use and Ubuntu has

been specifically built keeping in

mind the needs and requirements

of such users.

So for instance, we have a seven-

step installation process, there is a

live CD, there is also the option of

automatically install, so if you dont

know much about partitioning

you can still install it. You can even

install it in the Windows partition,

or run it from a pen drive. We

take lot of pains to ensure that

the user does not have to face any

sort of complexity when it comes

to installing and using Ubuntu.

We even have Netbook Remix,

for people who use it on Netbook.

Besides, we have even learned

to have fun and you can see a lot

of games on Ubuntu, especially

educational games.

he fact that you need

not commit to Ubuntu

unlike other OS, could also

be a factor, right?

Indeed, with other systems,

people tend to get stuck as there

is a significant cost involved, the

license will be tied to a machine.

So, sometime back I was talking

to a large bank: they had Micro-

soft OEM license, they moved to

Open Office, but they had applica-

tions linked to Windows, so they

could not move out of it. They

have these old computers with

256 MB or 512 MB memory and

they are just not able to transit

those machines, and they cannot

upgrade the memory either. They

have an OEM license, so they can-

not port the OS to a new machine,

if they change the motherboard of

the machine, the license becomes

invalid. So they have no choice.

They can either continue with the

same infrastructure or change the

applications.

What are the benefits

of Ubuntu, apart from

the cost factor?

Security is a big plus, as we are

well aware that Linux is very

secure. It is designed in a way

to be robust and secure. We also

bundle a tool called Apparma,

which provides the security

along with the application. What

its a myth that anybodycan tinker with the Open

Source code. Today, 99% ofpatches get rejected as theycome from unknownsources.

prakash_advani

it actually does is, for instance, if

you are running a Web server and

assuming that someone manages

to break into it, Apparma builds

a firewall around the application.

Generally, what happens iswhen someone breaks into a

server he or she gets access to

everything on it. However, if I run

an Apparma profile on Apache

and somebody breaks into it,

they will not get access to the rest

of the system. So Apparma acts

as a layer of security around the

system. We bundle Apparma even

on the desktop, so there is much

protection on that level as well.

But the fact that the OS

is open could mean that

anyone can edit the source

code?

Thats a myth that being Open

Source is unsecure as anybody

can tinker with the source code.

Today, 99% of patches that Linus

Torvalds receives get rejected

because they come from some-

one who is not known. So, there

is a much organised structure.

Anybody can view the code or

make a suggestion, but it gets

accepted only after multiple lev-

els of checks. Thats why, while

the average industry standard

is around 40-50 bugs per 1,000

lines of code, a Stanford study of

the Linux Kernel suggests there

were just 0.17 bugs for every

1,000 words of code. And the

interesting thing is that most of

these bugs were already fixed.

Today 54% of the Internet

is driven by an Open Source

application called Apache and

if Apache was not secure some

of the biggest websites would

not be using it. In a sense, Open

Source has evolved much like

the Wikipedia, which even when

being collaborative in nature

has been able to maintain high-

quality content that is universally

available. More importantly, it is

free..

p r a k a s h a d va n i


32/57

Ill

ustratIon:BIneshs

reedharan

Internal compliance isthe key whn it costo ing silntthreats posed by socialmedia at bay

By Deepak kumar

RunsocIal

medIaInsafemode

insight | uI

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uI | insight

AwAreness up two-fold,victims six-fold

While consumer awareness of phishing attacks has doubled

between 2007 and 2009, the number of consumers who

reported falling prey to this attack also increased six times

during the same period.

ccording to the EMC security division Ss 2010 Global

Online Consumer Security survey that polled more than

4,500 consumers on their awareness of online threats, while

thousands of people join social networking websites each day,

nearly two in three (65%) of respondents who belong to these

online communities indicated that they are less likely to inter-

act or share information due to their growing security concerns.

Social networking websites have become a hotbed for onlinecriminals because of their global reach and the participation

by hundreds of millions of active users from all walks of life.

This makes these communities prime targets for exploitation

by criminals who seek to steal personal information through

socially engineered attacks. eective of this trend, the

survey exposed that four out of ve (81%) people using social

networking websites displayed concern with the safety of their

personal information online.

n a similar S survey in 2007, one in three (38%) consumers

reported they were aware of the threat of a phishing attack

and this gure has doubled in two years when three out of four

(76%) consumers became aware.

Despite increased awareness, there have been a growing

number of online users that have fallen victim to a phish-

ing attack. n the 2007 S survey, only one in twenty (5%)

consumers cited they had fallen victim to a phishing scam;

this rate increased six-times in 2009 to represent three in ten

(29%) consumers.

This increase can be attributed to more advanced communica-

tions tactics and greater sophistication such as improved writ-

ing and web design skills on the part of the fraudsters. hishing

attacks have also evolved in an attempt to exploit users in dif-

ferent ways and through a broader variety of methods including

offshoots known as vishing, smishing and spear phishing.

The sheer volume of phishing attacks launched in recent

months is also contributing to these trends. The S nti-

Fraud Command Centre reported the highest-yet detected

rates of phishing attacks between ugust and October 2009,

as well as a 17% increase in the total number of attacks be-

tween 2008 and 2009.

50% consumers agreed that their identities should be better

protected than a simple username and password on social

networking.


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insight | uI

3 8 It next | a p r i l 2 0 1 0

Enterprise data security has

since long outgrown and

evolved beyond the mere

functions of antivirus, fire-

wall and intrusion detec-

tion. Endpoint security and network

security are also no longer all encom-

passing paradigms. And the rapid

adoption of social media at various lay-

ers has simply exploded the boundaries

that need to be monitored for potentially

countless breaches.

While the first leg of Inter

it next_april 2010

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