Wipro sees a silver lining in Q1; others say recovery by 2009-end.
The jury is still out on whether Tech Mahindra should retain the Satyam name. Srinivasan Swamy, CMD, R K Swamy BBDO, says. "Brand Satyam took a beating for only one reason -- accounting irregularities by its erstwhile chairman. The employees were not even aware of the fraud. The company's core values and foundation have not been impacted." The task for the new management, he believes, is to retain its clients and people and the brand image would get resurrected.
Google allows users to phone a toll-free number and make a query. The 'voice search' uses a combination of automated voice recognition engine and operators to provide this facility. To make the service faster and better, Google is also experimenting with voice recognition technology, which will ensure 24-hour support. Currently, the automated system offers results in English, but the operator-driven system offers results in only Hindi and Telugu.
It's a digital prototype called "sixth sense" that is currently being evaluated by major companies like Microsoft, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Samsung. The brain behind this device is the 28-year-old Indian-born Pranav Mistry, a researcher at the Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"We have not lost a single customer in Asia, despite the news (its bankruptcy protection filing in Canada and the US)," said Francois Lancon, President Enterprise EMEA and Asia. He admits, though, that "what works for us (stickiness of clients) also works for our competitors," adding, "The slowing economy is helping us retain clients, since customers don't like taking big decisions like changing vendors during times of uncertainty."
The Satyam board may present prospective bidders for the troubled Satyam Computer Services with operating statements for two quarters - October-December 2008 and January-March 2009 - to help them arrive at a decision.
Global IT giant IBM is understood to be the front-runner to acquire Satyam Computer Solutions, a company it named as one of its main competitors in a filing to the New York Stock Exchange in February. The US major, said sources close to the developments, has begun discussions with Satyam's government-nominated board and expressed its desire to acquire a majority stake in the company. A team of investment bankers and lawyers from the US and Europe has been brought in.
The bid-pack for potential investors is ready and the government-appointed board has already sent it to the Company Law Board and Securities Exchange Board of India, according to sources close to the development.
Major investment plans for a fabrication facility have put off due to the slowdown. A full-fledged fab requires an investment of $3-4 bn. Moreover, even if a fab were to come up now in the country, the technology would be rendered obsolete by the time it starts production. "If the government was serious about making the electronics manufacturing ecosystem robust, why is it sitting on proposals? How can you sustain a company's interest for so long?" asks an industry source.
Low-cost computing is all set to grow, but if the Rs 500-Sakshat is also to be called a 'laptop', it confuses users and hurts the market
That the value of brand Satyam would be eroded many times over, following its former chairman Ramalinga Raju's admission that he had cooked the company's books, was a given.
The government has suggested that the new Satyam Computer Services board should also look within the company to appoint a CEO and CFO.
The Mumbai police, along with a group of enthusiastic citizens including Mumbai Sheriff Indu Shani, combed commercial complexes, malls, office buildings and residential premises in south and south-central Mumbai to identify and get rid of unsecured Wi-Fi connections in the city, following terrorist attacks last year.Terror mails were sent via unsecured Wi-Fi connections before the Delhi and Ahmedabad serial blasts also.
IBM's India Research Laboratory completes pilot project on 'spoken web' concept in Andhra.
Insurance, telecom, infrastructure, FMCG and energy are unlikely to downsize; Elsewhere, only top performers are safe.
Three major undersea cables -- the Sea Me We 4, Sea Me We3, and FLAG -- were cut, considerably slowing down India's internet and voice traffic. The extent of the damage is still being assessed.
If implemented, this will be music to the ears of shareholders and analysts who have been insisting that Satyam would be better off returning money to shareholders.
The crux of the problem it appears is one of "trust" and the perception that a unilateral decision was taken by the board, allegedly to favour Raju's sons' companies.
The last couple of months have dealt a severe blow to IT firms, which has even prompted the top listed Indian IT services providers to inform investors that they need to scale down their growth expectations from the sector that, on an average, has been growing almost 30 per cent year-on-year.
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