Industry estimates peg the turnovers of MNCs like Dell, Intel, Microsoft and IBM at well over the half-billion dollar mark. Firms, like Cisco, are said to have crossed the billion-dollar mark in domestic sales in 2006-07, and for a player like HP India, it is estimated in excess of $2.5 billion.
IBM plans to increase its investments in its two software laboratories in Pune and Bangalore as part of its $1.5 billion security initiative in 2008, announced on November 1.
In a bid to focus on testing, software and documentation, Dell India is integrating its hardware research and development (R&D) activities with its R&D units in Austin and Taiwan.
The highest-ranking female executive in Motorola's nearly 80-year history, Indian-born IITian Padmasree Warrior, has now joined Cisco as its chief technology officer (CTO) after spending over two decades at Motorola.
In a move that will result in further snowballing of the spectrum issue, British telecom major Vodafone has termed the Reliance Communications' (RCom) allegations "as false and inconsistent with the facts".
They reason that hiring locals abroad -- where they have 'near-shore' (with proximity to the client) development centres -- would help them tap local markets and serve global clients better, win more deals and goodwill in those countries, besides scoring brownie points with the US in an election year (over H1-B visas).
The move by three major telecom service providers - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular - to set up a consortium for passive infrastructure is gaining ground, but independent telecom infrastructure providers are yet to be convinced.
Wipro has already screened hundreds of applicants through video kiosks it has set up at three of its campuses - two in Bangalore and one in Chennai. The company shortly plans to extend this concept, and install over 1,000 video phones at all its 20-odd campuses across the country. Each campus accommodates over 2,000 people.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has authorised service providers to either penalise errant telemarketers with a fine of Rs 500 per unsolicited call or disconnect their lines following subscriber complaints.
In an attempt to shed its image of being just a networking company, Cisco India will be launching a major brand repositioning campaign in India during the first quarter of 2008. It will include an outdoor, print and electronic media and web advertising campaign by OgilvyOne.
Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has proposed that the government should make it mandatory for telecom service providers to surrender additional spectrum that they are not utilising. Putting his proposal into practice, Ambani has also conveyed his willingness to surrender the extra 1.8 MHz spectrum that his group has in the Bihar circle.
Upping the ante in the ongoing spectrum war, Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has shot off a missive to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), accusing GSM operators of having cornered spectrum under the valuable 900 MHz.
The asssumption is based on the fact that an investment of nearly Rs 34,021 crore (slightly over Rs 90 crore a day) has contributed to an increase of Rs 5,71,874 crore (over Rs 1,500 crore a day) to the GDP in fiscal 2006-07, according to a new report by Frost & Sullivan.
Chennai-based Indowind Energy is in advanced stages of negotiations to acquire a wind energy company in Europe for an estimated price of around $100 million (Rs 400 crore). The acquisition, if successful, will help the wind energy and farming company to expand its footprint both in domestic and global markets.
Vodafone-Essar, the leading GSM operator is raising around $500 million (Rs 2,000 crore) through overseas borrowing. This is the first fund raising by the telecom major after British telecom major Vodafone acquired a majority stake.
Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, Infosys and Satyam, besides MNCs such as IBM, are working towards becoming carbon neutral while simultaneously converting their expertise in this area to help global companies become environment-friendly.
The technology is in place and operators are waiting for the green signal.
The entertainment industry is not amused by her activities, neither is the IT sector since it has given rise to a new breed of e-criminals (piracy is a crime according to the Indian Cyber Act 2000). Moreover, system administrators abhor her existence since her downloading clogs their corporate networks, weakens their firewalls besides disseminating unregulated content.
The credit goes to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons - the Computational Research Laboratories (CRL). The main people behind the super achievement are N Seetha Rama Krishna (Project Manager), Sunil Sherlekar (Head, Embedded Innovation) and Ashwin Nanda (who heads CRL) besides, of course, Ratan Tata himself and CRL Chairman S Ramadorai, who is also the CEO & MD of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
In August this year, ABN Amro Bank decided to renew the lease for its 3,100 sq ft office space at Nariman Point's Sakhar Bhavan, but the landlord dropped a bomshell by jacking up the rental to Rs 500 per sq ft.