Current IT Market

Indian engineers becoming backbone of Japan's IT industry

2009-11-07T07:05:00.000+05:30

Indian system engineers have emerged as the backbone of Japan's IT industry and more are flocking to the country which is witnessing a steep decline in its work force. Indian system engineers are making their presence felt in Japan's information technology industry. Around 22,000 Indians are living in Japan at the end of 2008, nearly double the number a decade ago. "India is already the

India needs 5 Lakh project managers: PMI

2009-11-07T07:03:00.000+05:30

According to a research by Project Management Institute (PMI), India will need about five lakh project managers in the future to complete 591 projects being carried out in the country.About 591 projects each worth more than Rs. 100 crore were being executed in the country and it required a great number of project managers in order to finish them on time, said Raj Kalady, Managing Director (MD),

Infosys offers multi-function human resource solutions

2009-11-07T06:57:00.003+05:30

Infosys Technologies, in association with Oracle, will offer managed services platform that will help companies streamline their human resource (HR) operations and reduce costs. "The platform enables us to offer the next generation of multi-process HR transformational outsourcing to our global clients cost-effectively," the company said in a statement. Built on Oracle's PeopleSoft enterprise

Citi continues to divest stake in Polaris

2009-11-07T06:57:00.001+05:30

Citi completed another round of selling mid-tier software company Polaris Software Lab’s shares in the open market on Friday. In the last few months, OrbiTech, an entity controlled by Citi has sold off over 5% of its stake in the company. According to bulk deal trade details on the NSE, OrbiTech sold 10.29 lakh shares at Rs 168.56 apiece on Friday. As of 30 June 2009, Citi held a 43.33% stake in

Apple's Steve Jobs named CEO of the decade

2009-11-07T06:56:00.001+05:30

He single-handedly saved Apple, wrought a revolution in online music, created a world-beating smartphone and led Pixar to dominate computer animation. So it's no surprise that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was named CEO of the decade on Thursday by Fortune magazine, which said that Jobs' success in reordering four industries - computers, music, movies and mobile telephones - was "unheard of."

H-1B visa applications lowest since 2003

2009-11-07T06:55:00.000+05:30

More than six months after the federal government began accepting petitions for work visas popular with Silicon Valley companies, thousands of spots remain open, a reflection of the nation's high unemployment and the political pressure to hire citizens, experts say.As of last week, 46,700 H-1B visa applications had been submitted, thousands less than the 65,000 allocated for fiscal year 2010 and

TCS scales up US Delivery Centre

2009-11-07T06:54:00.000+05:30

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced that it has scaled up its North America Domestic Delivery Center, TCS Seven Hills Park, to 300 associates. TCS Seven Hills Park is also the location of TCS' new North American Training Center. Over the last several months, more than 225 associates have joined the company from top universities throughout the country and completed a six weeks training

Take on folks in Beijing & Bangalore: Obama

2009-11-07T06:53:00.000+05:30

President Barack Obama has hit the road to push a new $4.35 billion grant programme to encourage American schools to develop internationally competitive standards to let its students take on "folks in Beijing and Bangalore." The "Race to the Top" fund is one of the largest federal investments in school reform in US history, Obama said on a trip to Wisconsin. It is being financed with money made

US state cuts IBM contract

2009-11-07T06:52:00.001+05:30

The US state of Texas has reportedly pulled its voter registration system out of an ongoing $863 million data center consolidation project being handled by IBM. Texas Secretary of State's office is said to have cut the project because of data security and disaster recoverability fears. According to the news report in ComputerWorld, the decision was prompted by an incident in August when a server

Now, know what Google knows about you

2009-11-07T06:51:00.000+05:30

Google has opened a window for users to see what records the Internet giant keeps regarding their activities at YouTube, Gmail, Reader and other accounts. Dashboard summarizes data kept about use of more than 20 of the California-based firm's services, according to a blog post by Google engineer Alma Whitten, product manager Yariv Adan, and vice president Marissa Mayer. "The Dashboard summarizes

Microsoft launches online services in India

2009-11-07T06:06:00.000+05:30

Software giant Microsoft today announced the commercial availability of its online services in India at prices starting from $2 (Rs 95) per user per month which will allow small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and enterprise customers to access Microsoft’s e-mail, collaboration, conferencing and productivity capabilities online.The services, that include Microsoft Online Services product family,

Thomson to expand Bangalore operations

2009-11-07T06:05:00.000+05:30

Global information services provider Thomson Reuters will be looking at expanding the operations at its captive technology centre in Bangalore as it considers this unit strategic for its world-wide IT requirements.Without getting into specifics of the expansion plan, James Powell, CTO, Thomson Reuters said, “We will grow over time and we see this (Bangalore) as strategic centre....There is going

IT's not all that hot for fresh recruits

2009-11-04T06:25:00.000+05:30

Entry-level salaries down by 20% for software prosDhannanjay Kumar, a 25-year-old computer science graduate from a top engineering college in Bangalore, considers himself lucky to have found job in a year when India’s over $50-billion software outsourcing industry had to cope with falling demand and trim payroll by up to 10%.“Not only I had to work twice as much for getting an interview, the

TCS, Wipro eye $400 mn Target outsourcing deal

2009-11-04T06:24:00.002+05:30

India’s top tech firms Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and several others are pursuing Target’s captive technology centre for a potential acquisition, in what could be a transaction bundled with a long-term outsourcing contract worth $300-400 million. America’s second-biggest discount retailer Target has around 1,500 staff employed at its Bangalore centre, currently doing software

Mahindra Satyam bags Saab deal

2009-11-04T06:23:00.001+05:30

Mahindra Satyam on Tuesday said that it won an IT outsourcing contract from Swedish defence and aerospace firm, Saab, to develop its operations for the global defence and security market in India in a deal valued at around $300 million. The contract, which spread over a period of five years encompasses engineering services and technology maintenance, will enable both the companies jointly address

Johnson & Johnson to cut 7,000 to 8,000 jobs

2009-11-04T06:19:00.001+05:30

Johnson & Johnson will eliminate about 6 per cent to 7 per cent of its global workforce, or some 7,000 to 8,000 positions, as the diversified healthcare company restructures and seeks cost savings, the company said on Tuesday. The company said it expects to generate annual pre-tax cost savings of $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion in 2011. "We are announcing a series of actions and plans designed to

Nokia Siemens to cut thousands of jobs: Company

2009-11-04T06:15:00.001+05:30

Finnish-German telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens said on Tuesday that it could reduce its 64,000-strong workforce by seven to nine percent, or by 4,500 to 5,800 jobs, in a cost-cutting drive. The cost-cutting is to "improve financial performance and return to growth" by reducing 500 million euros (732 million dollars) in annualised operating expenses and production overheads by 2011, the

HSBC bank says it will cut 1,700 jobs in Britain

2009-11-04T06:14:00.001+05:30

HSBC is to cut more than 1,700 jobs across Britain, a spokesman for the global banking group said on Tuesday.HSBC will axe "just over 1,700" jobs, a spokesman told media, confirming media reports. An official statement from HSBC explaining the cuts was due later Tuesday. The announcement came as the British government unveiled a major shake-up of the country's banking sector and one day after

Apple hires 2,300 full-time employees in a year

2009-11-04T06:13:00.000+05:30

Technology major Apple has raised its full-time employee count by 2,300 to 34,300 for the year ended September 2009, at a time when many companies worldwide slashed their workforce in the wake of the financial crisis. For the September 2009 financial year, the company had nearly 34,300 full-time equivalent employees and 2,500 temporary equivalent workers and contractors, according to its annual

Capgemini to expand India headcount

2009-11-04T06:12:00.001+05:30

Outsourcing firm Capgemini is all set to increase its India headcount with the opening of a new business information centre in Bangalore, according to a report in a business daily. The Bangalore centre will take the company's India headcount beyond 21,000, an increase from its employee strength of 20,000 in home country France. According to the company, the new centre in Bangalore would start

TCS bags multi-million Cardiff deal

2009-11-04T06:11:00.002+05:30

India's Tata Consultancy Services' contract with Cardiff City Council for technology services is a multi-million dollar deal that will run over 15 years, a company source said on Tuesday. Under the deal signed last week, Tata Consultancy will provide a host of IT services for faster and efficient delivery of services in Cardiff. Tata Consultancy and its rivals such as Infosys Technologies and

IT spending won't fully recover: Microsoft CEO

2009-11-04T06:11:00.001+05:30

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that corporate spending on information technology (IT) will not recover to levels seen in recent years before the global economic slowdown. "The economy went thru a set of changes on a global basis over the course of the last year which are, I think is fair to say, once in a lifetime," said Ballmer. Spending on information technology, which accounted for about

ACIS foresees 100% growth in headcount

2009-11-04T06:10:00.000+05:30

Being in the insurance-financial services domain may not be the most attractive situation during the current downturn, but Alliance Cornhill Information Services (ACIS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based Allianz Insurance, is foreseeing a 100% growth in its headcount at its operations out of the Technopark here.ACIS, which has grown from being an IT/ITeS operation employing about two dozen

Google tops best employer lists

2009-11-03T12:31:00.002+05:30

Internet search giant Google has emerged as the most sought after company for business as well as engineering graduates, according to two surveys, which term the company as the world’s “most attractive employer” followed closely by rival, Microsoft.According to the surveys compiled by global employer branding firm Universum, Google has been ranked at the top spot in the list of top 50 global

Mid-tier tech cos eye $2 bn local deals

2009-11-03T12:31:00.001+05:30

With larger rivals already chasing the lucrative domestic market, mid-tier tech firms such as Patni Computer Systems and Hexaware are attempting to enter the market by jointly bidding with experienced bidders. India’s government departments and other state-owned firms are set to spend around $2 billion on IT during the next 12 months. Hexaware, MindTree and Patni are among the many mid-tier