Just came back from Kolkata where I had the opportunity to attend “Infocom 2005”, the country’s largest information technology show organized by Nasscom and Business World, an ABP publication. If I had known before that I have to submit a report, I would have jotted down everything as best as a shorthand typist can do. Now looking back, these are the main topics that held my imagination.
This is the participation age “IT Everyday for Everyone” was the theme of the first day events wherein all the speakers were of the same mind in emphasizing that the present age is the “participation age”. Yesteryears were the technology and infrastructure age described as the “Information Age”, but now that all have been put into place, it is for the people to participate. Unless society as a whole comes forward to participate in the IT advantages, bridging the digital divide would be impossible. The example that was cited in this context was the fishermen class. They can benefit by getting the weather information from the information kiosk before venturing out into the sea. So participation age is all about access.
Intel Developing Community PC to suit Indian
Villages The global chip giant Intel is coming up with a low-cost and low-energy community PC to suit India’s villages. Even though the business perspective is to target the rural markets, yet this will help greatly in diminishing the gap between the urban population and the rural population as regards information technology. The community PC is expected to cost less than ten thousand rupees in the Indian rural market. Besides the regular features, the PC will also have wireless Internet access in rural and remote areas and is designed to run at 80 volts instead of the conventional 240 volts. Also its platform can work both in AC or DC line.
Sun Microsystems making source code open Sun Microsystems is giving away their software technologies for free. It started a decade ago with Java, a software platform where developers can write their own application, which would run in any Java, enabled device. The result- a community of Java programmers evolved. There are more than 4.5 million Java developers, 2.5 billion Java devices and millions of Java powered personal computers and mobile phones. Sun also gave the away the source code of its prized operating system the “Solaris” to the community for open sourcing. Surprisingly since making it open, Sun has registered more than 2.5 million downloads. Sun a firm believer of “sharing creates communities and communities create markets” has gained significantly by this move. But business tactics do differ, while sun has gained by open sourcing, SAP has gained by strictly adhering to licensing.
Convergence is finally happening Convergence is the merging of personal computing, telecommunications and television into a single technology platform. The market for PDA’s (personal digital assistants) for which there was a great demand in the late nineties, started vanishing as one can get similar functions in a cell phone often with a camera thrown in. In fact, cell phones are leading the convergence push by incorporating digital cameras, web browsers, TV or radio receivers. This is just one example of convergence. A year ago, convergence finally started to take place and digitalization began creating products that could be best categorized as MFDs (Multi-Functional Devices) or to put in one word “all in one”. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if on receiving an e-mail, we clicked on one button in the screen and actually got connected to the sender by phone. Convergence has produced the biggest explosion in innovation since the dawn of Internet and we are likely to witness a new digital world emerging.
WiMAX is the hot wireless solution WiMAX is the abbreviation for “Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access”, a standards based wireless technology that provides high throughput broadband connections over long distances. It can be loosely termed as “wireless braoadband”. WiMAX is a wireless metropolitan area network technology (MAN) with which you can create a network of your own. Services like the emergency service “911” of the United States could be possible in India using this technology. Wouldn’t it be nice to call this type of service to report a heart attack and immediately have paramedics with an ambulance at your door. WiMAx can also be used for high-speed enterprise connectivity for business.
“No disruption should be allowed in IT”
says West Bengal Chief Minister West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reiterated several times that he would not allow agitation-inflicted disruptions in the IT sector. The chief minister’s firm promise to protect the IT sector of West Bengal drew wide applause. He also notified that the government of West Bengal has acquired around 750 acres of land for the IT industry and that technology parks will be set up. He also told the gathering that about one-lakh seventy five thousand IT professionals will be required as a result. So “get into IT” is what one would say to the students.
KPO is the order of the day Business Process Outsourcing is a thing of the past, now it is Knowledge Process Outsourcing. In fact, business process outsourcing has led to knowledge processing outsourcing. Knowledge intensive business process requires outsourcing of the knowledge workers. A knowledge worker is the order of the day. India is all set to emerge as the knowledge process-outsourcing destination. When foreign companies outsourced most of their process to be developed in India due to low cost, Indian software designers were not only making the software but also gaining knowledge from the business process so much so that India has been able to earn a lot from offshore knowledge process outsourcing. KPO would become a 12 billion dollars sector in India by 2010.
Conclusion These are my reflections of “INFOCOM 2005”. Other than these. I must say that Hyatt Regency truly rose to the occasion in hosting the conference. Also, the exhibition at salt lake stadium grounds was of a very high standard where hardware and software giants participated in it. My personal view of Kolkatawhile marketing is fun in Kolkata, the smog in the city is too much for us to bear. I like our salubrious township.
By Roshmi Choudhuy, AM (IT),
Numaligarh Refinery Limited, Assam
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