Everyone talks of green nowadays; so you have green IT, green servers, green storage and now even greeen electronics. The vision is simple, move towards eco-friendly world, so many NGOs, especially Greenpeace, are leading the call for manufacturers of electronic goods to go clean and stop using toxic material. The biggest movement has come from the EU, that has put in regualtions and stipulations on the same.

Talk of green is important for India, as we are steadily ramping up our manufacturing capabilities, it makes sense to put in best practices at the start. It would be very foolish if, we did not. The story on Green Electronics was published in Dataquest magazine…(http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/industrymarket/focus/2007/107091701.asp)——————————————————————————
Call for Green Electronics

Electronics manufacturers need to stop using toxic metals in the manufacturing processes; they need to go green

Monday, September 17, 2007

‘At my signal, unleash hell, roared Maximus Desmus Meridius to his wearied men lined up against the last of the Saxon tribes. Which they summarily do. This scene from the film Gladiator captures the might and ferocity of the Roman Empire. In its heydays, the empire spread form Western Europe to Northern Africa. At the turn of first millennium, there was no other force in the world that could face up to the mighty Romans.

Yet, something from within the empire was gnawing at their strength. Most of the affluent Romans were stricken by Gout or strange mental illnesses. In fact, the Roman emperor Nero was supposedly playing the fiddle out of his insanity, when the city of Rome was aflame. Imperium Romanium was crumbling due to a bluish white metal known to them as plumbum, and to us as lead.

Toxic lead was responsible for most of these ailments, as the use of the heavy metal was quite prevalent in ancient Rome. The citizens, especially the blue-blooded ones, used to wine and dine out of vessels having lead in them. Lead was used in make-up, lead sugar (lead acetate) was used to sweeten wine, and so on.

Even today, some 2,000 years later, lead accounts for hundreds of deaths annually across the world, especially in developing countries. And, this time the culprit is not vessels or food but modern technologythings that making our life easier are the very things that are threatening our existence.

E-wastage
Modern equipment have made our lives much easier and comfortable. Yet, they are laden with toxic and health endangering chemicals. Right from the computer monitor to the semiconductor chip, almost all the part are either fabricated out of toxic metals or treated with them. Take the case of lead, it is found in glass panels and gasket (frit) in computer monitors (3-8 pounds per monitor), and solder in printed circuit boards and other components.

Cadmium occurs in such components as the SHD chip resistors, infrared detectors, and semiconductor chips. Mercury is used in thermostats, sensors, relays, switches, medical equipment, lamps, and mobile phones are found quite liberally in batteries. Barium is used in the front panel of a CRT. Beryllium is found on the mother-boards and “finger clips” as a copper beryllium alloy used to strengthen the tensile strength of connectors and tiny plugs while maintaining electrical conductivity, and so on. All these metals are known to have quite perilous impact on the human health.

But how can all these metals inside the computer and the mobile phone threaten us? E-waste is a term that describes the process of the transfer. Every year, users discard millions of PCs and phones across the globe, more so in the developed world. These PCs and phones are dumped for newer, better and sleeker models. With hundreds of millions of such equipment discarded annually, the amount of electronic waste (or e-waste) that stacks up is mind-boggling.

According to Greenpeace, the amount of electronic products discarded globally has skyrocketed recently, with 20-50 million tonnes generated every year. To get an idea of the amount, if the estimated e-waste generated every year would be put into containers on a train, the train would go once around the world in terms of length!

Poison in the Soil
Sadly, much of this e-waste finds its way into the developing countries in Asia and Africa. China and India have been one of the favored destinations for such dumping. Local contractors are paid to dismantle these products, which they do by employing cheap manual labor. It is during this dismantling that toxins come to the fore. They not only endanger the life of the laborer but also seep into the soil thereby contaminating the water table. Now the dangerous domino is set in motion, the contaminated water used for irrigation results in toxin-tainted food crop and poisons the whole food chain. The ill effects of these toxic metals are bone chilling. Poisoning threatens even people who have not been in direct contact with these metals; people like you and me.

Going Green
Of the many solutions for tackling this gargantuan e-waste crisis, green electronics is the most promising. Rather than trying to solve the crisis at the ground level, isnt it better to deal with it at the very onset at the manufacturing level? The idea is simple and sure to work. All electronic manufacturers must stop using hazardous metals while fashioning computers or other devices. And, going a step further, they should put into place a robust recycling strategy for their discarded products. If there are no toxins in the e-waste, it wont threaten our lives. Yet Green Electronics is easier said than done.

There has been a lot of resistance to this movement, not surprisingly from electronics manufacturing companies. In this outsourced world it is difficult to control all the manufacturing processes, take the case of a mobile phone, the screen could be fashioned in one part of China, the IC in Taiwan, the plastic body in Vietnam, and the software in India. And this is just the tip of the iceberg as these contractors would further sub-contract the work. In such a scenario, where the company is not in complete control of the manufacturing process, it is very tough to ensure that the manufacturing process does not harm the environment.

Secondly, the process of finding replacements for these commonly available products can be quite expensive, not only in terms of research but also in sourcing. Little wonder that companies have often shied away from sharing information about their manufacturing processes. But the tide is shifting.

Green Guide
Under pressure from governments and non-governmental bodies, electronics manufacturers have been under fire for a shift towards a greener manufacturing process. The biggest push has come from the European Union that has over the last few years passed strict legislations against the use of toxic materials in the manufacturing process. Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive and Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive are two legislations that have set the ball rolling.

From the NGO side, Greenpeace has been a driving force behind the move for Green Electronics. Every quarter, Greenpeace publishes the Green Electronics Guide that ranks leading mobile and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals and on taking responsibility for their products discarded by consumers. All these companies are ranked on information that is publicly available and through communications/clarifications with companies.

The last list was published in the end of June, 2007. Of the fourteen companies that were ranked, Nokia, Dell and Lenovo were the toppers, while HP, Panasonic, LGE, and Sony came in last.

Greenpeace list of companies that are using environment friendly manufacturing and recycling processes. Released every quarter, Nokia tops the list this time, followed by Dell and Lenovo. The ranking criteria were based on two aspectscompanies clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances; and take back and recycle their products responsibly, once they become obsolete.

Over the years, Nokia has maintained its leadership on the top of the table, but the gains made by Dell have been very impressive. The computer manufacturer has put in place a strong definition of the precautionary principle, timelines for substituting toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and explicit support for individual producer responsibility. Dell has also announced its intention to provide global free take back and recycling services to individual consumers wherever its products are sold.

The only reason why Dell lost points is because it did not have models free of PVC and BFRs on the market. Dell now scores top marks for reporting its recycling rate as a percentage of sales. The company has even put in a recycling program in India as part of global efforts. Even the Environment Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) has given a Gold to Dells latest OptiPlex 755 line of desktops and notebooks.

On the other hand PC manufacturers like Lenovo, and Apple lose points on the Greenpeace list because of a weak global take-back program, and also not eliminating the worst chemicals from their product lines. HP has been falling on the tables because of its failure to provide clear timelines for eliminating the worst chemicals. It also looses points for weak definition of take-back policies.

Not all Agree
But even the Green Electronics Guide is not without its detractors. Patrick Moore, co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace, does not quite agree with the findings and disputes the very basis of the report. Moore disputes Greenpeaces contention that PVC is dangerous for the environment and should be discarded. He recently pointed out that PVC is one of the safest and most sustainable materials available and that in contrast, it is the alternatives that often pose unknown health or environmental risks. According to media reports, he told electronics manufacturers not to “blindly follow the Greenpeace political agenda,” which is “devoid of any scientific basis” and would result in more costly, less climate-friendly products.

Whatever might be the outcome of this debate, it has quite significant implications for countries like India, simply because we are already suffering due to dumping of e-waste, and if proper mechanism for environmental control is not established in the numerous manufacturing facilities, the results could be dire. Hopefully, the global companies setting up operations in India, will continue to follow the principles of Green Electronics and not resort to malpractices due to laxity in legislation and enforcement.

Every year thousands die due to toxic poisoning. For the sake of humanity, lets hope that history does not repeat itself. It goes without doubt that companies like Dell, Apple, HP and others have a responsibility for reigning in the hell that has been unleashed upon our environment, knowingly or unknowingly.

Shashwat DC
shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in

***
Effects of Toxic Metals

Lead: Lead causes damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, blood, kidneys, and reproductive systems. Effects on the endocrine system have been observed and its serious negative effect on children’s brain development are well documented

Cadmium: Cadmium compounds are toxic with a possible risk of irreversible effects on human health, and accumulate in the body, particularly kidneys

Mercury: Mercury can cause damage to various organs including the brain and kidneys, as well as the foetus. Most importantly, the developing foetus is highly susceptible through maternal exposure to mercury

Hexavalent Chromium/Chromium VI: Chromium VI is still used as corrosion protection of untreated and galvanized steel plates, and as a decorative or hardener for steel housings. It easily passes through cell membranes and is then absorbed, producing various toxic effects in contaminated cells. Chromium VI can cause damage to DNA and is extremely toxic in the environment.

Plastics including PVC: Plastics make up 13.8 pounds of an average computer. The largest volume of plastics (26%) used in electronics has been poly-vinyl-chloride (PVC). PVC is mainly found in cabling and computer housings, although many computer moldings are now made with the somewhat more benign ABS plastics. PVC is used for its fire-retardant properties. As with other chlorinecontaining compounds, dioxin can be formed when PVC is burned within a certain temperature range

Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs): BFRs are used in the plastic housings of electronic equipment and in circuit boards to prevent flammability. More than 50% of BFR usage in the electronics industry consists of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), 10% is polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and less than 1% is polybrominated biphenyl (PBB)

Barium: Studies have shown that short-term exposure to barium has caused brain swelling, muscle weakness, damage to the heart, liver and spleen

Beryllium: Beryllium has recently been classified as a human carcinogen as exposure to it can cause lung cancer. The primary health concern is inhalation of beryllium dust, fume or mist. Workers who are constantly exposed to beryllium, even in small amounts, and who become sensitized to it can develop what is known as Chronic Beryllium Disease (beryllicosis), a disease primarily affecting lungs. Exposure to beryllium also causes a form of skin disease that is characterized by poor wound healing and wart-like bumps. Studies have shown that people can still develop beryllium disease even many years following the last exposure

Phosphor and additives: Phosphor is an inorganic chemical compound that is applied as a coat on the interior of the CRT faceplate. Phosphor affects the display resolution and luminance of images that is seen in the monitor. The hazards of phosphor in CRTs are not well known or reported, but the US Navy has not minced words about the hazards involved in some of their guidelines: “NEVER touch a CRTs phosphor

Coating: it is extremely toxic. If you break a CRT, clean up the glass fragments very carefully. If you touch the phosphor, seek medical attention immediately.” The phosphor coating contains heavy metals such as cadmium and other rare earth metals, eg, zinc, vanadium, etc. as additives. These metals and their compounds are very toxic. This is a serious hazard posed for those who dismantle CRTs by hand.

Source: http://www.itwastesolutions.co.uk/

***
Did you know?

The average lifespan of computers in developed countries has dropped from six years in 1997 to just two years in 2005 Mobile phones have a lifecycle of less than two years in developed countries 183 mn computers were sold worldwide in 200411.6% more than in 2003 674 mn mobile phones were sold worldwide in 200430% more than in 2003 By 2010, there will be 716 mn new computers in use. There will be 178 mn new computer users in China, 80 mn new users in India

Source: Greenpeace

Every year Dataquest in conjunction with IDC India, conducts a comprehensive HR survey titled as the Best Employer Survey (BES). The purpose is simple to gauge the latest trends in the IT industry from the perspective of the employers and more importantly from the view point of the employees. Like every year, this year’s BES also throws up some interesting surprises, the biggest one is the downfall of the domestic companies and rise of the foreign firms. The implications are quite obvious, Indian companies can no longer take foreign for granted, thinking that Indian employees will choose them over the latter. They need to buck up, as the IBMs and Accentures of the world are adopting Indian customs and amalgamating themselves in the Indian milieu. The flattening of the world had benefited Indian companies, now the foreign firms are going for the kill.

I would encourage, all of you to read this story on DQ website (the link given below) as there are a lot of graphs that complement the story. Hopefully, it will be accessible. Await your comments…(http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/DQTop20_07/employers07/2007/107083117.asp)——————————————————————————
The Other Side of the Flat World

American and European services firms have figured this out and are taking on the India-based firms head on in people management, even adapting global HR policies to suit Indian needs.
They’re succeeding.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Smugness and Infosys hardly go together. Yet, in the spring of 2004, Nandan Nilekani had famously proclaimed that the global playing field “had been leveled. The CEO of Infosys was conversing with visiting American journalist Thomas Friedman. The change, according to Nilekani, had been brought about by technology and globalization. For once, Nilekani seemed to let go of his natural modesty as he extolled the strategies adopted by his company. And also by his other Indian peers.

Friedman was impressed. So much so that he called his wife from his hotel room to tell her that the world was “flattening”. His book, World is Flat, eulogized the tactics adopted by Nilekani, Ramadorai, Premji and others, proclaiming a new world order. It was meant to be a warning note to the developed nations, particularly, America.

But even before Friedman loudly asserted it, companies like IBM, Accenture, EDS, CSC, and ACS the North American services firms were feeling the heat. Not only were these Indian firms taking their market share in IT services, many of them had listed in America and had soon become the darlings of Wall Street.

The Indians, of course, were beating them hands down in cost. A large part of that cost advantage came from Indias low-cost work force, which was equally good, if not better than the American IT workers.

It was time for them to tap that talent too. Between 2004-2007, almost all American firms and a few European ones significantly ramped up their Indian delivery. Today, for many of them, including the biggest of them all IBM have more workforce in India than in any other part of the world, excluding of course, USA.

In short, the success in the American (or European) marketplace is increasingly depending on how successfully you compete in the Indian market for talent.

While many of them were hiring rapidly, the Indian firms maintained that just hiring by paying more would not make them successful in India. Satisfying the needs of Indian employees which are very different from those in the US (say the need for job security)was not going to be easy.
Easy, it was not. But possible, it is.

This years DQ–IDC Best Employers Survey (BES) gives enough reasons to believe that the non-Indian firms are steadily mastering the art of managing Indian employees, because that has become the numero uno factor for success in the marketplace.

This years BES gives an interesting insight that seems to coincide with Friedmans flat world contention. For long, Indian services companies were making the most of tech democratization, going from strength to strength. But, somehow, non-Indian service firms have come to terms with the new order, and are bringing the battle to India. They have realized that the Indian workforce is the key to the future and have staked a claim.

The success in the American (or European) marketplace is increasingly depending on how successfully you compete in the Indian market for talent . When Indians started to pitch for American IT contracts, they were the challengers; the American firms were the incumbents. In the Indian talent market, the same phenomenon is repeating itself, with the order having been reversed. It is the Infosys and Wipros who are the incumbents; it is the IBMs and Capgeminis that are the challengers.

The survey results show that the world is indeed flat equally flat for all. Or, as they often say, globalization is a two way street. We have come a full circle.

Challenge to Indian Service
If Friedmans flat world was the new world order, call it the new, new world order. In BES07, four non-Indian services firms have made impressive debut. Now there are a total of five non-Indian services firm in the list. IBM, Capgemini, Cognizant, CSC, and Ness Tech these companies have either made a debut or have moved up in the ranking, while the Indian giants, but for TCS, have tumbled.

Non-Indian services firms have also learnt how to make best talent in this flat world It is obvious that Indian services companies that had been using the global service delivery model had a lot of faith on their people management skills. While these companies were bidding and winning contracts abroad against global service companies, so were the non-Indian service companies. Not only have these global companies set up base in India, they have also studied and adopted themselves to the Indian climate. Thus IBM India is just like any other Indian IT biggie, only more attractive due to the international lineage. The implications are loud and clear.
Non-Indian services firm have also learnt how to make best use of the not-so spiky world of ours.

The Charge of the Foreign Brigade
It is certainly not the first time that these non-Indian services firms have performed well on BES. Over the years, they have staked claim to quite many places on the Top 20 list. Last year, five non-Indian firms were on the list, of which three (Cadence, CSC, and Kanbay as part of Capgemini) are back again this year. There were six non-Indian firms in 2005 and over 10 in 2004. In fact in 2004, non-Indian firms topped 4 out of the 8 broad categories like image, culture, job content, etc, while they had topped 8 of 10 in 2003. Over the last few years, non-Indian firms have been recruiting heavily, for instance, IBM India and Cognizant added around 14,000 employees each in the last year itself and were amongst the largest recruiters in India. Little wonder these companies are gaining prominence in the BES.

By and large, the reasons remain the same over last year. The only significant change: overseas opportunities now matter more than growth opportunity. However, managers complain that the love for overseas is restricted to postings abroad for one-two years, unlike earlier. Most of them want to come back to India after a short overseas stint

Of the lot, Cadence has been the most persistent. It was ranked at the very top (#1) in 2003, came in #4 in 2004, #6 in 2005, and #5 in 2006. This year Cadence falls 9 places to be ranked #14because of a fall of 12 places in HR rankings. IBM India has been another regular in the BES, it was ranked at #5 in 2003, #3 in 2004, and #8 in 2005. It did not participate in 2006 and this year IBM re-entered the list again at #6. IBM ranks at #3 on HR rankings and #12 on employee rankings, meaning it still has a lot of work etched out for it. The other most interesting MNC debut this year was that of the European major, Capgemini that ranks at #6, with IBM. The interesting part being that it ranks #31 on the HR list and #5 on the employee ranks, a difference of 26 ranks between the two, the second largest in BES this year.

The change is evident. In the past these companies tried to fit the operations to the processes they had brought along with them. This was certainly not the best way, as Indian employees lay a lot of emphasis on inter-personal relationships. Indians not only work for a company, but, more often than not, are married to them. So while a good pay package was always good, it was never the be all of a job. Thus, a lot many employees preferred the hospitable and informal atmosphere at Indian companies rather than process driven MNCs.

Non-Indian companies have woken up to this unique characteristic of Indian employees and are changing themselves with a gusto. Take the case of Capgemini, its India center is not a clone of the HQ, but follows distinctive HR policies that are aimed at the Indian audience. IBM is trying to be more personal, with Sam Palmisano making frequent trips to India and displaying his love through huge get-togethers that seem like a typical Indian wedding. On the other hand, Intel, has taken a leaf out of the Tatas and is increasingly talking about its CSR activities. It would seem that these non-Indian services are adapting to the Indian work culture and beating the big Indian players in their own game.

Interestingly, growth opportunity and technology one is working on are the two parameters where people are fairly satisfied; yet they would change for those reasons. The toughest challenge for employers

The results of this transformation are there for all to see. Take the case of dream companies four non-Indian companies have made their place in the Top 10. The implication is clear: more Indians prefer non-Indian service firms to their Indian counterparts.

Even when it comes to work culture, non-Indian firms are scoring. There are four non-Indian services companies in the Top 10 with Infosys plummeting to #20 on the culture parameter. The myth that non-Indian companies pay better seems to be dispelled as there are only three non-Indian services companies in the Top 10 list. In fact Infosys is last at #20, preceded by IBM at #19. When it comes to satisfaction parameters, growth opportunity tops. Not surprising considering the industry is still growing at more than 30% and with that everyone is growing

The signs are ominous. There are still a lot of non-Indian firms, like HP, Oracle, etc that used to be part of the BES in the past but are not so now for a variety of reasons. Whereas companies like Microsoft, Accenture, EDS, SAP, Google, etc, that have been quite active in India did not participate in the survey. In the days to come, as these non-Indian services companies adapt further, they will continue to give the Indian companies a run for their employees.

Bangalore Tigers Tamed
But for TCS, the big Indian IT humpty–dumpties have taken a fall, especially the Bangalore tigers. The biggest surprise has been Wipro Technologies, which has dropped by 14 places and is out of the Top 20 list. The main reason can be its dismal performance on employee ranking. It is rated quite poorly on parameters like preferred employer (internal), appraisal, training, and culture. But has retained its HR rank, and is ranked at #3. Over the years, Wipro has had its ups and downs on the annual BES. In the first survey, in 2001, it was ranked a #8, rising to #3 in 2002, falling to #7 in 2003, to #18 in 2004, rising again to #15 in 2005 and #9 in 2006. There has been a lot of inconsistency in Wipros performance over the years, and for the first time, this year it is out of the Top 20.

On the other hand, Infosys has dropped by 4 places and is ranked #8. Like Wipro, Infosys also has performed badly on the employee rank, falling from #8 to #15 this year.

The drop could be attributed to the fact that the company has performed badly on the following parameters: preferred employer (internal), company image, salary, and others. In fact, on a lot of parameters Infosys is at the bottom, like appraisal, people, overall satisfaction, image, job content, culture. There seems to be a major discontent brewing among Infosys employees, all this while the company makes a media splash of its foreign interns.

The explanation offered oft times is that as both these companies are ramping up rapidly, there seems to be a tradeoff. Employees joining the organization now might be expecting the same informal atmosphere that used to exist half a dozen years back, for which these companies have been known. But that personal touch might have been lost in the huge number game. Whatever might be the case, one thing is certain, the Bangalore tigers need to get their act together.

A Giant on Top
While the rest of the Indian biggies have tumbled, TCS has, in a way, improved on its performance. This year too it retains its number one position in the overall rankings. In the HR ranking, it tops the list, though there is minor drop in the overall HR score due to low CAGR as compared to last year. But on the employee part, TCS has gone a notch higher and is ranked #3.
TCS is ranked at the top on two parameters: overseas opportunity and job security. With the company going more and more global, obviously the employees seem to be excited about the opportunities opening up. The employees also seem to be quite happy, as the company scored well on the preferred employer (Internal) parameter, as compared to last year.

Yet, TCS must pay attention to lower and mid-level employees as it is ranked #9 on the issue that the appraisal system was fair. It is ranked #10 for “I get regular and constructive feedback from manager/superior” and #8 “I get a sense of great professional and personal accomplishment from the work I do”. TCS is followed by another Indian strong player, HCL Info, ranked at #2.

Size Does Not Matter
Year after year, there is a discussion on how well small companies have fared on the BES. When we talk of small companies it means relatively, in terms of the big Indian and non-Indian giants. This year there were close to eight small companies in the Top 20: iGate, RMSI, Synechron, Tavant, Accel Frontline, Cybage, AztecSoft, and Geometric. iGates performance has been truly impressive as it gained 26 places to be ranked #3.

These small companies have performed well on the employee ranking vis—vis HR, implying that employees are satisfied with things like salary hikes, payment at par with industry standards or, more importantly, that employees are encouraged to take risk at work. Most of these companies have ranked high on the employee ranking, like iGate at #2, RMSI #4, and Tavant #6. Only Synechron, amongst these companies, has been ranked high on the HR ranking, # 5, and RMSI is #8.

There has also been a change in the way employees perceive these companies. Take the case of image, there are three small companies that have come in the Top 5. Even on the preferred employer (internal) parameter, there are two small companies in the Top 5. Though in the dream company parameter, there is only one small firm (iGate) in the Top 5. Small companies score on the job content front, as was made obvious from the fact that four small companies appear in the Top 5. They are also ranked highly on the culture parameter, with three in the Top 5.

The small companies have also learnt the art of retaining: RMSI is ranked at #1 and iGate at #2 on the retention rate. Though attrition is high as well, as on the same parameter, there were three small companies in the Top 5.

According to some arguments, employee rankings are no real indicator of a companys success, as a sudden windfall to cash to employees or other emoluments like ESOPs could influence that. So these companies need to get their HR processes in place to be termed as the great Indian employers.

The Ones that Lost Out
This year there have been quite a few upsets in terms of companies in the last years Top 20 missing the list this time round. Seven companies, to be precise. As stated earlier the most notable was Wipro that has been ranked #22. The others are GlobalLogic (formerly Induslogic) at #21 and Nucleus Software at #28. Companies like NIIT, Sasken, Sierra Atlantic and Interra IT did not qualify for the employee round.

The main reason being a drastic drop in employee ranks. Take the case of GlobalLogic, while its HR rank fell by three places, its employee rank fell a whopping 15 places. In case of Wipro the fall was all the more drastic, with employee rank falling a whopping 19 places to be ranked #30. Nucleus Softwares employee rank fell by 13 places and it was ranked #26. These three companies fared badly on basically three major employee parameters, namely salary, appraisal and preferred employer (internal).

Meanwhile, there were other companies like Honeywell, Virtusa, Zensar, L&T Indo, Tech Mahindra, Nagarro, Mphasis, and Patni that are ranked beyond the top 20 and could find place in the coming year or years.

Roti, Videsh aur Tarakki
Salary, overseas opportunity and growth opportunity are the top three factors employees cited that would make them shift jobsthe same as last year. However, there is a slight change in priority. While salary and compensation did continue at top, this year, overseas opportunity has replaced growth opportunity as the No 2 factor. Surprising considering that the number of Indians abroad who want to come back to India is also on the rise.

The HR managers agree, however, with the finding, while offering an explanation. Many of them contend that overseas posting is still a big lure for employees; but unlike say ten years back, todays young IT engineers do not want to go abroad to settle there. “It is very difficult to find someone willing to be posted abroad for five-six years; but everyone wants a 1-2 years stint,” says an HR chief. The reason, he explains, is saving some good money “so that you can come back, buy a property and settle in Delhi or Bangalore.” So, in essence, it is a reaffirmation of the first point.

However, what is noteworthy is that in almost all the top parameters (except location), the scores have come down, meaning no single reason is now enough for changing the job. They want a better balance of everything.

When it comes to satisfaction about parameters, growth opportunity tops. Not surprising considering the industry is still growing at more than 30% and with that everyone is growing. Surprisingly, all talks of long hours/stress notwithstanding, most employees feel that they have a good balance of social life and work life. And most of them are happy about organization culture and work climate as well.

The BES also asked the employees to react to specific statements. The maximum agreement was in the area of peer relationships. As many as 84.2% employees strongly agree to the statement that “my relationship with my peers make for a better work environment”. More than 81% strongly agreed to the statement that their colleagues help them when they need them. About 76% respondents strongly agreed that people in their organizations treat each other with mutual respect and trust.

The other area that got a lot of strong agreement to positive statements was company culture. Most employees (more than 70% in each case) strongly agreed about their employers value & ethics, fairness of business practice, honesty & integrity, and professionalism towards all stakeholders.

Not surprisingly, most of the disagreement and “somewhat” agreements were in the area of salary and compensation. Only 34% strongly believed that they are getting paid at par with the industry and 28% said they are not encouraged to take risk at work.

It is still a very positive feeling by Indian employees. Peer relations and organization culture are the areas employees are most satisfied about. The total agreement is obtained by adding the “Strongly agree” and “somewhat agree” responses

Attrition Down
While the Indian employees have become more confident and are demanding more salaries, the average attrition rate of the industry has, in fact, gone down by a percentage point. It currently hovers at around 14%, unlike 15% last year. The main reason for Indian employees leaving the company are: overseas opportunity and growth opportunity. Subsequently, retention rates have improved by a percentage point and are currently at 82% for the industry at large.

Being Fair(er)
As India marches on with high growth and rapid development, so do Indian women. Over the last many years, the percentage of Indian women in companies has been steadily rising. In 2007 it was 23.7% (from the companies surveyed). It has grown from 14.5% in 2004 to 19.7% in 2005 and 23.6% in 2006. A growth of 0.1% point is nothing much to cheer about though, there is a lot of work that needs to be done.

The number of people who strongly agreed that the company is sensitive to its women employees has dropped over the years from 66% in 2004 to 64% in 2006, to 63.32% in 2007. It could also be due to the fact that a lot of women employees in the workforce were able to voice their concerns this year.

Summing up, its obvious that Indian service companies are facing stiff competition from non-Indian service firms. The paradigms of the games have changed. Companies like Wipro and Infosys need to gear themselves against the turning tide. The war for the Indian employee is on, and at the moment the adaptive non-Indian firms seem to have an upper hand.

Much water has flown since Nilekani made the assertion about a flat world. He was indeed right, the playing field had been leveled, but one doubts if he counted on the fact that non-Indian firms could also use it to their advantage.

A flat world is certainly not a safe world.

Shashwat DC

It was first time my name was published in the Time Magazine. The magazine has a section, wherein readers are invited to send their question for one of the invited guests. I had a question for Jimmy Wales (in fact I have quite a few still). Of all the hundreds that Time recieved, mine was selected, and answered by Wales .

To be honest, none of us could have imagined that Wikipedia would be the success that it turned out to be. Millions of people across the globe contributing and correcting each other, it is truly representative of what the Web purports to be. But I often do wonder, as to what is the purpose behind so many individuals to contribute and correct anonymously. In this materialistic world, it is hard to imagine such a venture. And this is the reason why I feel that probably Rousseau was right, man is indeed a noble animal..corrupted by the ills of society; the noble savage, so as to say.

Coming back to the article. I really admire Jimbo’s (as Wales is popularly known) work and have had the good fortune of interacting with him at a personal level for my own publication. Also, It is a great feeling to see your name in Time, something that can hardly be described. And I have a strong belief that there would be a lot many more times one would get to see my name in that hallowed magazine. This is just the beginning 🙂

(http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1601491,00.html)
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10 questions for Jimmy Wales

What drives people to contribute to Wikipedia? Altruism?—Shashwat Chaturvedi, Mumbai, India

No. It’s realizing that doing intellectual things socially is a lot of fun—it makes sense. We don’t plan on paying people, either, to contribute. People don’t ask, “Gosh, why are all these people playing basketball for fun? Some people get paid a lot of money to do that.”

It has been 25 years since spielberg’s E.T. was released and sadly Indian cinema has not really been able to recreate that magic. It has nothing to do with technology, today Indian animators have worked on movies like Spiderman, Superman, Narinia, etc..According to me, there are two real aspects to it; one the vision of the maker and second is the ability. While there has been some improvement on the later, nothing much seems to have changed on the former. Take the case of much-hyped Roshan films (the first one was a copy of ET), they seem to completely take the ‘story-telling’ aspect for granted. It is all style, no real story. I really don’t know when things would change, we need someone like Peter Jackson, who completely revolutionised how VFX was used. He is a true magician put life into inanimate things through the use of computers. Quite sometime back, I had taken a stock of Indian VFX industry on CIOL, what is hapenning and what is possible. It is still valid today….
(http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106012102.asp)
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Will VFX arrive in India, Day After Tomorrow?

While Hollywood blockbusters like Day After Tomorrow saw a giant tidal wave submerge the Statue of Liberty, Indian films seem to be quite content to blow up a plane or two using computer effects…

Saturday, January 21, 2006

It’s evening, Ann Darow, a vaudeville artist and the giant ape are sitting on the tallest peak on Skull Island, gazing at the setting sun. The view from the top is serene and beautiful, a world that is almost magical, too good to be real.

But that world does exist, on one of the workstation at Weta studios in New Zealand, a ‘Matrixian’ sort of world made of 0s and 1s. Visual Special Effects — or VFX as it is popularly known — is constantly blurring the divide between real and surreal, nothing seems to be impossible anymore, as it was in the King Kong movie recently. Computers have brought the magic back in movies.

Right from the very start, filmmakers have been trying to make movies that defy conventional reality and in the process stretching the very limits of technology. George Méliès made the first sci-fi movie, A Trip to the Moon in 1902 inventing something known as trick photography.

The next big thing was the original King Kong made in 1932; Merian Cooper pioneered the use of stop-action model effects. George Lucas’ Star Wars in the 1970s opened the realm of possibilities with the use of robotics and computer effects. Steven Spielberg brought to life aliens in E.T., dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, sharks in Jaws and alien machines in War of the Worlds.

Finally, Peter Jackson went a notch higher, the Lord of the Rings trilogy proved what modern high-end computing can achieve. And if that was not enough, he put life in the giant ape King Kong. VFX in Hollywood is getting bigger and bigger by the day, every year big blockbuster movies are released that heavily rely on VFX to pull the audiences.

Bombay Dreams

In contrast, VFX in India is fairly primitive; we have barely achieved in Koi Mil Gaya, what Spielberg had in E.T. way back in 1982! Abhishek De, producer (VFX), Maya Entertainment, is of the opinion that, “we might be late, but we are catching up fast enough.” He cites the example of a film done by his company, Jajantaram Mamantaram, “It had over 90 minutes of special effects, fairly large by even international standards.”

Merzin Tavaria, creative director/VFX supervisor, Prime Focus, says, “VFX in India is coming up in a big way. Over the past 2-3 years, filmmakers are ready to experiment and explore new possibilities. These are ominous signs for the VFX industry in India.” Merzin talks about a project he is currently working on, titled Love Story 2050, he promises it will be a “real biggie” in terms of VFX used.

Color of Money

What are the shackles that bind Indian VFX artists from achieving the same as their brethren in Hollywood? “Cost,” says Abhishek, adding, “a visual effects sequence can cost anything from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 50,000 per second, or more, depending upon the complexity of the shot. Sadly, typical Hindi movie budgets are not in the position to commit that kind of money for VFX.” Thus, most Indian makers are content to just make their heroes do a summersault or leap from a rooftop with the help of VFX, or at best blow up obnoxious aircraft. All this work just about scratches the possibilities that are available with VFX.

According to Merzin it is has more to do with ignorance, “Directors in India are slowly waking up to the possibilities. We are coaxing makers to dream big and creating a market for VFX in India.” Recently, Prime Focus was in the news due to its association with a film Vaah! Life ho to Aisi that reportedly had a VFX budget of Rs. 60 million.

The Rise of the Machine

Are we lacking in technology or machines? Do we have the same hardware as ILM or Weta does? Pankaj Kedia, regional sales manager (South East Asia & India), Autodesk Media and Entertainment Division, assures that we do. “All the latest technology and software used internationally is available in India and the studios here are also adopting them. The Indian market is growing quite fast, in fact it is the largest growing worldwide market for Autodesk solutions,” he says.
Two-thirds of the top grossing films in Hollywood since 1993 have used Autodesk’s effects and editing technology; films like Day After Tomorrow, Lord of the Rings, King Kong, etc. Pankaj also believes that there is a growing realization of VFX possibilities in Indian makers, “Sanjay Gadhvi (director of Dhoom) is more convinced about the use of VFX after using it in Dhoom, so we will see a lot more effects in Dhoom 2. Similarly, Rakesh Roshan is also going all out for Krish after experimenting with VFX in Koi Mil Gaya,” he adds.
Yet, not every studio can afford Autodesk’s latest tech machines, an Inferno system costs approximately Rs. 30 million, a Flame system close to Rs. 18 million, a Flint system approximately Rs. 8-9 million. According to Pankaj, the VFX biggies in India are: Prime Focus, VCL, Prasad EFX, Maya Entertainment, etc.

A Man Apart

Weta Digital was just another studio in Wellington, New Zealand, a decade or so ago. But that was before a maverick maker by the name of Peter Jackson decided to rewrite history. He embarked upon one of the most ambitious projects of all time; bring to life J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic Lord of the Rings. Now, Weta is a VFX powerhouse, giving the best studios in Hollywood a run for their dollar. That’s the difference a single man’s will does. Do we need a desi Peter Jackson, who could dream big and then make it come true as well? “Of course, that would help,” says Abhishek from Maya, adding, “we indeed need makers for whom cost does not matter, only the vision does.”

The View from Beyond

Jesh Krishna Murthy has worked on films like Batman Returns, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, The Cell, etc. He is currently setting up shop in India, launching a company called Anibrain, targeting Hollywood and the Indian market. He is quite effusive on the subject, “VFX is not about machines or software; it has more to do with pushing the limits. I do not see many people in India doing that. And unless we really push ourselves hard, like developing software solutions, plug-ins, etc., we will never reach the level Hollywood has.”

Another person who is of a similar opinion is Jim Rygiel, three times Academy Award winner for Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. He was the VFX supervisor for the three LOTR films. He is an industry veteran, having worked in films like Ghost, Cliffhanger, 102 Dalmatians, etc. He is of the view that, Indian companies can replicate the success of Weta Digital, “however machines are nothing, so that makes all of the IT power in the world worthless unless you can get good artists to run those machines. The aesthetic needs to be addressed, much like the difference in aesthetics between an Indian film and a Hollywood blockbuster,” he says.

In conclusion, we have the machines, we have software, and we have the required talent. What we need now is the will: The will and self-belief to do anything.

Quite recently, CIA declassified a whole set of confidential documents, known as the ‘Family Jewels’. It is certainly not the first time CIA has done that, over the years there have been many such occassions. But this time, there was a lot of hype around it. Being an IT journalist, I was quite curious whether the gents at CIA were keeping a track of the way the humble computer evolved? So, I got cracking and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the agency really kept a close tab on the ‘wonder of computers’.
Not only that, I chanced upon lot of documents that detailed how the Soviets were failing in their IT designs, or how India was emerging as an IT powerhouse and why China would not really succeed in its modernization efforts. The problem was all these documents were scanned as images (at times quite unreadable), so I had to take a printout of quite many that seemed interesting (I have a fat dossier now) and manually type the text in.
It was quite an effort, as I was a wee bit worried, that some journo sitting across the globe at Time, or even BBC, might be working on the same concept. Anyways, after many ‘long nights’ the story was done and was published on CIOL. The story gives an idea of not only what CIA thought about computers , but also how it has evolved over the years. I am quite confident, that it makes quite an interesting read….(http://www.ciol.com/content/2170798471.aspx)
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CIA on computers, technology and Indian IT

Culled from the declassified documents of CIA, here is a look at how technology and computers were shaping our world over the years. Of course there is lot of Bond, James Bond-like action involved…

Wednesday, July 21, 2007

The left-facing bald eagle perches atop a 16-point compass star. Metaphorically, the star denotes search for intelligence and information outside the dominion of the US Additionally, the compass star rests upon a shield, symbolic of defense and fortification. The emblem or the seal of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the premier surveillance and security agency of the US government, more or less says it all.

Shrouded in a cloak of secrecy, CIA carries covert work across different continents and countries. Not many know, what all the agency exactly does and there is little that the agency doesn’t, according to the few that happen to know and have spoken out. Established just after the Second World War, in 1947, CIA’s mandate is to obtain and analyze information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons. The agency or the company, as it is often referred to as, is also mandated to effect propaganda and handle public relations for the US administration. And finally, it is also, consigliere and caporegime of the reigning US President; ever ready to do his bidding.

Over the years, there have been many accusations and charges against the CIA, ranging from recruitment of Nazi scientists and SS officers to hiding information about UFOs; experiments on unwitting American citizens to concerted efforts to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. There have also been allegations that the Agency had alliances with opium lords in Burma, Thailand and Laos; an assassination program in Vietnam; complicity in the toppling of Salvador Allende in Chile; recruiting and training Economic hit men, the arming of opium traffickers and religious fanatics in Afghanistan including a certain Osama bin Laden; the training of murderous police in Guatemala and El Salvador; and involvement in drugs-and-arms shuttles between Latin America and the US, the list just keeps going on.

But then, most of these is just speculation, and there is little proof of them. Unless and until the agency itself admits it, albeit obliquely. Over the past few years, the Agency, has been declassifying records under the Freedom of Information Act. These declassified records range from elaborate reports to short summaries on a range of issues, right from Cold War to Desert Storm. All these documents can be accessed from CIA’s website (http://www.foia.cia.gov/), using simple search functionality. There were quite a few documents, dubbed as the ‘Family Jewels’, were declassified recently.

Now, it is a well known fact that the agency has also been has been an avid technology user, it was even supposed to own quite a few U2 planes and reconnaissance satellites. Its obsession with technology is two-fold: one for its own use and second what other nations might be using to get an edge over the US Right from the onset, the agency has been making confidential reports and assessing technology. The big push for the same came in fifties with the launch of Sputnik satellite by comrade Stalin in the erstwhile USSR.

So, how could the agency miss the irrepressible computer, the miracle machine that was also evolving more or less around the same time? It certainly did not, on searching the term ‘computer’ on CIA’s website, one gets around 517 declassified documents, from the oldest on German textile industry using computers as a tool published in August 1945 to the latest on WMD search in Iraq dating from September, 2004.
Studying the documents is like taking a trip down the history, a proverbial time machine. One gets to know what really people thought about the wonder of the machine, what were the possibilities according to the people way back then and how things have changed.

A competent ‘mechanical slave’
In 1960, Joseph Becker authored a paper on “The Computer – Capabilities, Prospects and Implications”. The report talks about how “intelligence negotiates for the services of an obtrusive, demanding, but enormously competent mechanical slave.” That’s how the computer has been defined, a competent mechanical slave. First up, Becker distinguishes between two types of computers, one is the analog and the other is digital. The analog, he tells us, is more or less a mechanical device that “gives measurements of a continuum, notably time, direction, distance, or velocity, processes them mathematically as desired and displays the results in some measurable form.” A speedometer is an example of an analog computer.
A digital computer is like an abacus, he states. Digital computers deal with discrete numbers. “Numbers may be used to represent the layers of the alphabet or verbal symbols, the digital computer is the machine that has the major promise for handling the verbal data if intelligence,” he states.

The paper gives an instance of an digital computer, “Electronic computers like Remington Rand’s UNIVAC or IBM’s 700 series process numbers at speeds measured in millionths of a second, have an immense storage space or “memory” function precisely and accurately, and can process letters of the alphabet when these are numerically coded, treating them internally as if they were numbers,” states Becker as if he was wonder-stuck. In fact, it is this wonder that really strikes you. Don’t we get impressed when we see a humanoid like Aibo doing things, imagine what people must have thought way back then.

Becker talks about how there is a notion that “digital computers are endowed with near-human or even super-human qualities”. And discusses how a seasoned computer operator will argue that on occasion the machine has a ‘personality of its own’ and “his emotional involvement with the machine is such that research being done in man-machine relationships to arrive ay the right mix of human factors for happy and efficient work with a machine as colleague or subordinate.” It seems that the computer back then had a sort of halo to them. But he states emphatically, that the computer do not “think” but are driven through pre-determined set of operations.

In the future, Becker states, these computers would be extensively used in civilian and military work due to their high-reliability and faster processing. He lists out the different component of the EDP system as: input equipment, the computer, storage area, control mechanism and finally output devices. Becker also talks about a ‘recent innovation’ i.e., automatic programming. He talks about IBM’s Fortran language that makes a programmer’s job quite easier, as it contains only “38 statements”.

Becker also talks about how hardware technology continues to forge ahead, with the use of ‘cryogenic techniques and micro-miniaturization of circuitry’. “In the days to come very complex circuitry can thus be built into a cube of stacked wafers the size of a lump of sugar,” he says.

Yet, Becker’s prediction about the future of the digital computer is real attraction. “Looking ahead, designers foresee the day when refrigerated computers the size of portable TV set will operate on wall socket power. It is symptomatic that one of the serious design problems facing the computer engineers is that of minimizing the length of connecting wires, which becomes more and more critical as components get smaller and signal speeds approach the speed of light,” he states.

Looking back, one can say that he was not much off the mark, quite soon, the use of transistors curtailed the need of connecting wires and then of course there were the ICs. In the report, Becker further details the application of the computer and hints at how CIA could benefit immensely from computerization, namely through having a central digitized repository of documents. He also talks about the use of computers for automated translation of documents in foreign languages and to study photos in a better way. He also gives a sort of warning, “if we profit from the experience of industry during the past few years we should be prepared for some radical changes in the organizational structure as a result of the introduction of machines.” It could be that he was talking of labor substitution. All-in-all, the paper is quite detailed in its examination of the mechanized phenomenon, and he sure was not much of the mark.

The clandestine and conniving Soviets
One thing is for sure, after the Sputnik debacle. The CIA kept a hawk eye on all going on behind the iron curtain. Through out the years, there have been numerous reports and assessments on how well or how bad the Soviets were faring. Sometime, they would be quite premonitory in nature, talking about how USSR was rapidly deploying technology and specifically computers to good use. But more often then not, they debunked the Soviet efforts, it must have been quite a relief to the supreme commander at the White House.

One such report from 1977, titled “Soviet RYAD Computers: A Program in Trouble,” talks about how the Soviets were unable to succeed in creating clones of the IBM 360 series. “The USSR continues to experience serious delays in the development production, installation and effective use of its RYAD computers, which form the cutting edge of the Kremlin’s modernization program,” the author states. The reason according to the report was fairly simple, Soviet computers had been designed mainly for scientific applications and had insufficient internal memories.

In the report there is mention of how the Soviets had tired to clandestinely copying from the IBM 360 series. And also they were funding different hardware initiatives across Eastern European, namely in Bulgaria, Poland, East Germany, and others. Even then they were failing, quite miserably so as to say.

That was from the hardware point-of-view, another report goes on to state, how USSR was also trying to source Western software and computer applications that could be replicated at Moscow and other places. And just like the case in hardware, they were failing miserably in software as well. “The leadership of the Soviet software R&D community recognizes — as revealed in open-source literature – that the USSR’s software industry is technically backward. The Soviets know that, if this problem is not corrected, Western countries will be to extend their domination of advanced information-processing technologies for decades to come,” the author mentions.

Theorizing on possible reasons the author states that the lack of success with hardware might be the reason for the software industry. “The USSR is struggling with limited success to acquire and put into use the computer hardware that would be vital to a modern software industry,” it states. According to the report, to overcome this limitation, the Soviets were trying to source software from Western nations clandestinely. They were trying their hands at data sources codes, simulation software, algorithms for application development, utilities programs, etc. Later on, in another paper, there is a big hint that India might have a role to play in the technology transfer to the communist state.

India; an ally or a threat?
Americans were loath to the idea of the Russians (rather the Soviets) playing around with their machines or software. Under no circumstances did the US government want the Soviets to get hold of IBM machines or software of any kind. Thus for them, every State that had affable relationship with the Soviets was a threat. And India happened to be one such State.
In June 1985, there was a report published under the title, “India: A Growing Role in Technology Transfer.” Even after declassifying it, the agency has censored close to 70 per cent of the report (there is still a lot they don’t want the Indians to know). In the report, the author not only talks about the danger of India passing out the bits, bytes and ICs to the Soviets, but also in a small way captures the change that was taking place at that time.

There is a lot of talk of how prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was technolizing India and introducing a slew of reforms to that end. “Gandhi has introduced sweeping economic reforms that promise to encourage imports of sophisticated western technology and boost India’s ability to manufacture its own high-tech products. As a result, India will offer an increasingly attractive target for Soviet science and technology collectors in the years ahead,” the report warns.

It also talks about how after decades of slow and uneven growth, India had developed sizeable heavy industrial sector and an impressive economic infrastructure, and was poised for an unprecedented expansion into high-tech areas such as electronics and computers.

“We believe the scope for such growth is vast – India boasts a brand range of scientific activity and a large reservoir of highly educated and technically-trained manpower,” the author states. Adding that, “Gandhi is eager to make Indian high tech goods competitive in world markets, and the development of computer software exports is receiving particular emphasis.”
The alarm bells were ringing due to the close Indo-Soviet relationship. But there was an interesting observation as well, that even the Soviets might not like India to be more techno-savvy.“For the Soviets, India’s growing interest in expanded ties with the West and its quest for advanced technology present both a challenge and an opportunity,” the author mentions.
It seems that the American government had shared its concern with the Indian counterparts, as there is a mention about Indian security practices as well. “Indian officials believe their security procedures are adequate to deny the Soviets access to Western technology with the government, the military and public sector enterprises.

Six years after the report was published, USSR ceased to exist and the Indian economy was liberalized. Thus one could safely assume that the American fears might not have materialized or whether they actually did.

The coming of the Internet
The CIA was also tracking with interest the evolution of the Internet. The main concern of the agency was quite obvious: the Soviets could use it to steal information. A report “Soviet and East European Computer Networking: Prospects for Global Connectivity” published in 1990 list outs those concerns. The main concern for the agency was triggered by the entry in April 1990 of the USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland into the European Academic and Research Network (EARN). “The entry is likely to have a profound effect on scientific communities throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The Soviet Akademset network, for example will become considerably more value if it provides a reliable bridge to vast foreign networks,” the author states.

There is also the story about the genesis of the Internet and talks about the “primary networks in the West”, and it sure is quite informative in a brief manner. “The best example of a government-subsidized research network is the Internet, which grew out of the US ARPANET project. Starting in the late 1960s, computers at the US Government, military, and commercial organizations conducting government-sponsored research were interconnected to permit the transfer of research data and maximize the utility of computers at various sites of the network. ARPANET spawned similar network, such as the US National Science Foundation-sponsored NSFNET to provide remote access to its supercomputer centers, and these networks themselves interconnected (inter-networked) – the result was termed the Internet. The Internet carries only unclassified information, and it now extends to many foreign countries,” the author states.

In the same report, there is an interesting story about what could be the first “primed” hacking attempt. Dubbed as the ‘Hanover Hacker’, the report details the Soviet attempts to hack US systems to gain information. The interesting thing was that they employed the help of programmers in West Germany (which was then an ally of the US) for the act.
“We have already learned about one Soviet effort to carry out illicit technology transfer via the Western research networks, the case of the ‘Hanover Hacker’. According to press reports, West Germans, acting at the direction of a Soviet handlers, engaged in a form of espionage over the Internet, Breaking into user accounts on computers in the United States and Western Europe by exploiting poor network security – including easily guessed or default passwords – the Germans stole proprietary or otherwise sensitive data. Although none of the data was classified, some of it could be considered ‘technical data’ that might have been restricted from export to the USSR by COCOM,” the author states.

But he seems to be quite baffled by the Soviet attempt. “According to the information provided to the press, the Soviets paid a considerable amount of money for the information and stolen passwords they received, The sum of the damage caused by the hackers – even bearing in mind the possible effects of the transfer of technology – does not seem to be substantial enough to warrant the expenditure. The operation’s exposure, however, could be considered a fluke (the hacking was not detected by any intelligence or police agency in any of the affected countries – it was discovered and pursued by a US academic researcher) and the Soviets may have anticipated far more productive future collection from the use of stolen passwords,” he states.
Beyond that, there is not much on the Internet, maybe there is oodles of reports that are waiting to be declassified.

Unmade in China
It was not only the Soviets that the Americans were worried about, they were also keeping an eye on the fledgling dragon, so as to say. China was also looked upon with distrust and was not thought to be capable of succeeding in its modernization efforts.

A report was published in 1986, titled, “China: Science and Technology Modernization.” The evaluation is quite pithy, that China though aspiring to be a big technology powerhouse could not really become one. “China has had little success in civilian applications of high-priority, advanced-technology sectors such as semiconductors, computers, and telecommunications. This failure will in our view hold back advancement in other high-priority areas, such as the development of automated production capabilities and communications networks for business and governments,” says the author.

Even then, the authors do note that energy and focus of the Chinese authorities in its modernization efforts. There is often the talk of how the senior government officials were quite serious about the S&T modernization and had set stiff goals that had to be achieved.

The goals were to commercialize technology, increase acquisition of foreign S&T, and finally breaking down of the barriers between civilian and military research and production.
But it was a tough task, according to the authors, as work conditions tend to be poor and key skills – such as computer specialists – were still in short supply. The big plus for the modernization efforts were the hundreds of Chinese students that were returning after being educated in Western universities. They were exposed to Western technology and could be a great help in the change.

Yet there was some amount of wariness. “China’s S&T modernization program creates both opportunities and problems for the United States,” The good thing was that there were already signs of a much more “open China.” But a powerful China could also be quite assertive. “China’s growing S&T capabilities and accompanying improvements will increase Beijing’s ability to project power against the nations on its periphery,” the author states.

There is the talk of how China may be able to narrow somewhat the gap in selected industrial technologies with the industrialized world over the next decade. “The degrees of narrowing is uncertain, but catching up fully with the West in any of these areas is very unlikely.” The general outlook for progress in high-priority areas was summarized as below:

Microelectronics: Gap will widen
Computers: Gap will widen
Telecommunications: Gap will remain or widen
Automated manufacturing: Gap likely to persist
Transportation: Gap will remain fairly uniform
Energy: Gap will narrow
Special structural materials: Gap will narrow
Biotechnology: Gap will narrow

“Of course, China will try and avoid becoming overly dependent for technological assistance on the United States or any other country,” the author adds.

In retrospect, one can safely say that the author (or authors) could not have been more off the mark. The transformation at China did go out pretty well, so much so that foreign firms are shifting almost all their manufacturing capabilities to China. The country no longer is dependent on technological assistance but is a global powerhouse of the same.

The world in 2015
Among the many reports, there is one that is quite interesting, titled “Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future with Non-government Experts.” The report was published in December 2000 and does crystal ball gazing into the future. It is quite an entertaining and speculative view of the future. As we are currently, somewhere in between (in terms of time), it still makes for an interesting read.

“The integration of information technology, biotechnology, materials sciences, and nanotechnoloyg will generate a dramatic increase in innovation. The effects will be profound on business and commerce, public health, and safety,” the report notes.
It also states that in the following years, the time between the discovery and the application of scientific advances will continue to shorten.

There are many observations on the political and security trends, economic dynamism, regional interaction, regional trends. But lets talk specifically about the IT front. “Local-to-global Internet access holds the prospect of universal wireless connectivity via hand-held devices and large numbers of low-cost, low-altitude satellites. Satellites systems and services will develop in ways that increase performance and reduce costs,” the author states.

The report goes on to list the countries that will play an important role in the IT revolution. “Among the developing countries, India will remain in the forefront in developing information technology, led by the growing class of high-tech workers and entrepreneurs. China will lead the developing world in utilizing information technology, with urban areas leading the countryside. Beijing’s capacity to control or shape the content of information, however, is likely to be sharply reduced,” it says.

“Discoveries in nanotechnology will lead to unprecedented understanding and control over the fundamental blocks of all physical things. Developments in this emerging field are likely to change the way almost everything is designed and made. Self-assembled nanomaterials, such as semiconductor ‘quantum dots,’ could by 2015 revolutionize chemical labeling and enable rapid processing for drug discovery, blood content analysis, genetic analysis, and other biological applications,” the author adds. There is also the mention of how by 2015, information technology will make major inroads in rural as well as urban areas around the globe.

But there is also a rider. “The rising tide of the global economy will create many economic winners, but it will not lift all boats. The information revolution will the persistence of poverty more visible, and regional differences will remain large.”
There is quite some thought that is given to Indian IT. Obviously, it must have been the success of the Y2K that must have woken up the Agency to the potential of Indian IT.

“India’s economy, long repressed by the heavy-hand of regulation, is likely to achieve sustained growth to the degree reforms are implemented. High-technology companies will be the most dynamic agents and will lead the thriving service sector in four key urban centers- Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. Computer software services and customized applications will continue to expand as India strengthens economic ties to key international markets,” the author adds.

On China, the author is unwilling to bet, saying that, “estimates of China beyond five years is fraught with unknowables.” But he is emphatic on Russia’s decline. “By 2015, Russia will be challenged even more than today to adjust to the expectation for world leadership to the dramatically reduced resources it will have to play that role,” he states.

So this is how the world seems in 2015, India continues to go stronger thanks to IT, so does China, but not Russia. We are half way through; it remains to be seen whether in the next few years the authors would be proven right or wrong (they seem to have miscalculated Russian resilience, Vladimir Putin seems to be doing quite well for himself and his nation, as of now).

Computers @ CIA
After talking about computers across the globe, once chances upon a rare report that gives an idea of how the computers at CIA had evolved. In a report, “30 and Thriving” published in 1991, there is the talk about technology changes at the agency. At the onset, there were the AIWAC, which was a total-batch-processing system used for U2 measurements and worked on paper tape. It was the agency’s first digital computer. Next came IBM 407 and 1401, they generated “blip sheets” — massive paper printouts with up to seven carbon copies of historical data and blank data-entry forms. The 1401 were an improvement as they had four magnetic tape drives, and “8,000 bytes of memory”!

In 1962, came the Univac 490 systems, with 32,000 words of memory and were used for measurement and information procession. Further advancement came with the Univac 494 that brought the wonders of remote-batch processing. The agency went in for the Univac 1100s series in 1975 and in 1986, they were complemented with Sun terminals, it was then that the “light pens were replaced by the mouse.”

As of 1991, the year the report was published, the agency had two Uniysys 1100/93s’ and one Unisys 1100/91. “Together,” the author says proudly, “these systems offers 160 million bytes of memory (approximately 152 MB) and 146 billion bytes (approximately 135 GB) of storage and process 48,000 transactions a day.”

Another document honors Albert D “Bud” Wheelon, responsible for the creation of the Directorate of Science & Technology at CIA. Wheelon was mandated to create the department in a jiffy, post the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. In the report there is a quote by a person who eulogizes Wheelon and talks of how the research at CIA and other agencies have helped the progress of science.

“S&T research contributing to the processing and analysis of vast amounts of information which the agency collects daily. Research in improved data extraction, automatic database generation, machine translation and information retrieval – in multiple languages – have been major efforts supported by interagency groups, often led by S&T officers, and in several cases have led to commercial products. How else will the analyst or policymaker get the right amount of information in the form he wants on his desk when he needs it?” he says.

“The forerunner of the Pentium chip came into being because of some visionary officers in the S&T who believed in a radical concept – the RISC processor – worked with industry in the early 1980s to see that it got a fair chance – now look where we are,” he adds while giving other examples like tools for urban planners, 3D software, and facial recognition tools, etc. that have come from the agency stables.

So this is how the world of technology has evolved over the last years. Surely there are hundreds of thousands of documents and reports that have yet to see the light of the day. At least we can be sure of one thing after reading all these “Family Jewels.” There is so much more that we really don’t know. But we do know that the bald eagle is keeping an eye on all of us, making discrete notes.

Was reading about the BrahMos missile today, it is indeed India’s finest achievement in terms of warfare technology (the disappointments have been no less, ALH, LCA, etc.). Future wars will not be fought by men but by machines is a reality. Take Desert Storm as an example or even Kosovo or Afghanistan. Technology and war go hand and hand. All this reminds me of a story that I had done long time back, in fact when the troops had invaded Iraq, that touched upon the man and machine connect. The story was published in the Financial Express. Read on…..(http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=31145)

From the 1991 Gulf War to Gulf War-II, there has been a distinctive shift in the way the wars are waged, a shift in favour of technology. Not only have weapons evolved in terms of destructive power, they are also smart now. For instance, Cruise missiles can hover around the target for an hour or so, waiting for a ’go’ from the command centre. The whole operation is being run from thousand of miles away in Virginia, US and Bahrain.

Proprietary Vs Open Source..is an interesting debate for any tech journo, so when Microsoft closed a pact with Novell last year, how could I resist penning my thoughts on this contentious issue….The story was published in the Dataquest Magazine & on CIOL.com and got quite many comments from people from all over the world….That’s best compliment for any journalist….(http://www.ciol.com/content/search/showarticle1.asp?artid=91191)

Raymond Noorda must certainly be turning in his grave. It has been barely a month since he left for the pearly abode and already his legacy has been undone. For over a decade, Noorda fought a relentless battle against the company at Redmond. Noorda was a former CEO of Novell and to him, William Henry Gates III was an unscrupulous usurper who needed to be stopped at all costs. Novell and Microsoft were bitter enemies, nothing less and could be more.

Embrace, Extend, Exterminate
Since, the eighties, Microsoft has been at loggerheads with some or the all the IT companies. It is renowned for the subversive tactics that it employs to nullify opposition. “Embrace, Extend, Exterminate” is supposedly the corporate philosophy that it lives by. In its three decade of existence, innumerable companies have either been gobbled up or simply run out of existence. Gates (and now Steve Ballmer, the CEO) do not look kindly at competition.

Hauger also pooh-poohs the ‘embrace, extend, exterminate’ talk. “All this talk does not really make logical sense. No one owns or controls GPL (General Public License), so where is the talk of exterminating it? It all seems quite humorous,” says Hauger.

Alex had come down to India sometime back to sign a contract with Tata Technologies, it was then that I had met him. He seemed quite eager and enthusiastic about his trip to India and I had suggested some ‘typical Maharashtrian’ delicacies, like missal pav. He couldn’t try it due to paucity of time, but promised that he will next time round. Am waiting to hear from him. This interaction was published in the Dataquest Magazine: (http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/cio_handbook07/GlobalCIO/2007/107022801.asp)
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‘IT is making us a whole lot quicker… to work at speeds similar to our race models’

The date May 1, 1994, has a special significance in the sport of F1 racing. It was the day when Brazilian Formula 1 driver, Ayrton Senna de Silva died in a car crash in San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. He was racing for the Williams-Renault team and was in a winning position, when his car crashed into unprotected concrete barrier. The death of Senna brought the dangers of the sport into the limelight.

WilliamsF1 has been in the racing circuit for around three decades and is renowned for its FW models released year after year. The company recently signed an agreement with Lenovo, who would be one of the main sponsors of the team. Sometime back, Alex Burns, chief operating officer, WilliamsF1, had come down to India to visit Tata Technologies facilities in Pune. In an interaction with Shashwat Chaturvedi from Dataquest, Burns talks about how his team is using IT and why outsourcing might not be such a bad term after all. Excerpts.

What role does IT play in the development of an F1 car?
Technology is a critical element behind the success of any F1 team. Today, without any exception, every F1 team is investing heavily in latest tech mechanisms to get the best out of their models. Take the case of FW28, used in the 2006 season, we used over 4,500 CAD drawings during the design phase. We are heavily dependent on computational fluid dynamics, telemetry and other to not only develop an F1 car but also run it well.

To be frank, the FIA has introduced rules over a period of time that effectively slow down the car. It is driven by security needs, because otherwise all the cars would be trying to increase speed aggressively. There are whole lists of tests and reports that one has to complete before launching a model. There are the wind tunnel tests and crash analysis tests. Today, with the latest cutting edge applications, not only is it more cheaper than the traditional way but also a whole lot quicker. All this is only due to IT at work.

Once the model is up and running, what is the role that IT plays?
Running an F1 car is a highly data intensive job. For instance, over a weekend of grand prix race, close to 7GB of data is generated. This data needs to be meticulously analyzed and the design changes need to be implemented quickly. Also, this requires speed. At times, we work at speeds similar to our race models. When the car is running there are thousands of sensors that are attached all across the body reporting on different parameters. To make sense out of all this data and implement changes quickly, is a job that is best done with the help of IT.

We function at the very edges of technology. Our work is quite akin to the space industry. The components have a short life, we are constantly testing and incorporating changes. It is a very dynamic industry.

There is a general feeling that F1 racing has become overtly technology driven, the cars are more like computers. Your take?
I do agree that there is a general feeling of overuse of technology but you need to understand the reasons behind it. Since racing is a very dynamic and speed driven sport, any small error can be huge, not only in financial terms but also in terms of risk to the driver. Thus, one has to ensure all the safety and security that one possibly can, this is where IT is extensively used. And to that end, I support the use of technology. But, at the end of the day, the car is just an entity in the hands of the driver and it depends on the individual skills of the driver to steer the car to the premier spot.

What is the reason behind your engagement with Tata Technologies and the benefits of outsourcing?
The very same that are driving a host of companies around the world, namely time and money. Developing an F1 model is big money, and, as I said earlier, a lot of this is in the technology costs. Using the skills and facilities of companies like Tata Technologies we intend to shorten the development time and also decrease costs. We have a production cycle from September-March. That’s when we develop models for the next racing season. We would be working with Tata Technologies (Incat) on CAD models, etc for the FW29 model. Hopefully, as time goes by, we will increase our engagements with Tata Technologies. The quality of skill at Tata Technologies is high, and they have the ability and the wherewithal to put in the requisite numbers if need be for a project. It has the makings of a great marriage. We can do things faster and also in a cost-effective manner due to our association with Incat.

A word or two on the upcoming FW29?
In many ways FW 28 did not really meet the expectations of the WilliamsF1 team. We have learnt a lot from our outings in the 2006 season and we are going to apply them during the design for FW29. As we are retuning back to using the Toyota engine again, hopefully things will be very different in the coming season.

One would be hardpressed to find a person who does not know about Disneyland. But a lot many do not know that behind all that magic there is a lot of IT & Technicality. It was amazing interacting with Noble COker, who is the CIO of Disneyland HK, he is a man without airs and seems to love the challenges that keep cropping up all time. This interaction was published on CIOL, the link is (http://www.ciol.com/content/developer/newsmakers/2007/107031601.asp)
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‘Magic @ Disneyland

Noble Coker marched into the meeting room. As the CIO of the upcoming Hong Kong Disneyland, this was his first interaction with his local team members. For the meeting, he had prepared an agenda and was ready to thrash it out with his colleagues. Strangely, throughout the meeting the team kept mum. On being pushed by Coker, the team members would only show their appreciation for the project.

“They found it incredulous to tell their boss that he was wrong, while it was much the case in the US,” he recalls. This was Coker’s first cultural shock, but he quickly learnt the ropes and next time round he was prepared with a solution.

To say that Coker is a fast learner, would in no means be an exaggeration, after all during his college days he learnt Lao language from all the refugees who were being resettled in California and later on took classes on the language, “to pay my way through college.” He joined PriceWaterHouseCoopers as an analyst and subsequently was hired by Disney as a programmer. Rising up the ranks, he took up the challenge to oversee the construction of the fifth Disneyland in Hong Kong, and the rest as they say is history.

In a freewheeling interaction with Shashwat Chaturvedi from CyberMedia News, Coker talks about the “magical experience” at the Disneyland and how IT makes it happens. Excerpts:

Can you tell us about the use of IT at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort? How much has been drawn from the other Disney parks in the U.S. and Europe and how has the HK Disney been unique in terms of technology adoption?
At Disneyland, the use of technology can be classified under four different categories, as follows. The first one is business transaction, the use of IT in hotel reservation, merchandise dale, food point of sale, etc. The second category is communication, the use of email, IP telephony for internal communication. The third category and a rather important one for us is the safety and security for our guests and visitors right from food to park monitoring. The fourth one is the entertainment; we use a technology in a variety of ways to enrich the guest experience. Hence, we extensively use IT at our parks.

Giving a precise figure on how the common technology between the Hong Kong and the international parks is a tough call, but I can hazard a guess that it must be around 80:20 international and local mix, respectively. We have used technology in very many unique ways in Hong Kong.

You have often emphasized on creating “magical experience” for the guests, can you share with some instances on how technology is being used to create that “magical experience”?
When our guests walk out of our park, I would rather have them remembering Disneyland for a great magical experience rather than a great technological one. I want people to say, “wow, how did they do this” and our technology is geared towards creating that very experience. Starting from the website, we have created a similar experience much like the one that a guest will experience at the park. At the park itself, we are using a variety of tech applications for instance, at the park there is a wireless broadcast that synchronizes the timing through the park, this ensures all the different elements work in perfect coordination, like the parade and the floats.

We also have piped music that is running through the underlying infrastructure. Or take the case of the newly introduced FastPass at Disneyland. In the past guests had to stand in long queues to be able to enjoy their rides. Now with Fastpass, they can register themselves for a slot later in the day and comeback in that slot and enjoy their ride. This helps the guests spend more time on the rides rather than queuing up. Even our park attractions use technology to reinforce the ‘magical’ feeling. Take the case of Stitch Encounter, based on the Disney character Stitch. He dynamically interacts with the guest and his responses are based on what the guest tells him.

One of the challenges (mentioned by you) was working with multi-cultural team, how difficult or easy is it to work with diverse teams?
To be honest, working with multi-cultural teams can be extremely difficult, if one is not sufficiently prepared for it. I committed a lot of mistakes and learnt through them. Such experiences forces one to remove our filters; filters that one acquires over time. The experience can be quite humbling. For instance, when I had come here, I was trying to achieve things without understanding the significance of different cultures. Typically, Americans have a bad habit of talking first, and listening later and giving away a lot content without much context. I quickly understood these issues and got down to working them out by understanding the people and learning more about their culture.

Do you think current-day CIOs pay much (more than required) attention to this aspect?
Though companies are going global, I still fell that as CIOs, we do not pay much attention to cultural sensitivity issues. By nature CIOs are naturally project driven and focused on getting the job done, and no one frets over such things. But, I personally feel, that resolving these issues can be critical to the success of a team.

What is the IT strategy roadmap for the future, i.e., technologies that are being tested for the future?
Going ahead, we have created a New Technology Group that has representatives from all the major Disney Parks like Hong Kong, France and the U.S. The group examines all the emerging technologies across the world and then uses them at the parks. For instance, some years back, the mobile penetration in Hong Kong was much ahead of what it is in the U.S., so we perfected the mobile applications out here and now they can be cross deployed in the U.S. market.

In the times to come, convergence across varying media will be big thing in the days to come. Today media is ubiquitous; there is a plethora of devices like iPods, mobile phones, etc. The challenge will be to deliver multi-dimensional experience. Guests in the future would want a more enhanced experience, so when they visit the Tarzan tree house, they would like more information on Tarzan or even like to see a movie clip of the film. We are gearing to deliver that enriched user experience. Disneyland will always be magical.