Shivani Shinde &Amp; Ishita Russell In Mumbai

Stories by Shivani Shinde &Amp; Ishita Russell In Mumbai

Virtual data centres save power, realty costs

Virtual data centres save power, realty costs

Rediff.com   17 Jul 2008

Research firm IDC India estimates the share of virtualised servers in the industry to double from the current 22 per cent to 45 per cent by the year-end.

Rising ATF prices: bad news for couriers

Rising ATF prices: bad news for couriers

Rediff.com   14 Jul 2008

As all airlines have raised carriage charges, private couriers have increased their tariffs 8-20 per cent. India Post, on the other hand, has not tinkered with its tariffs at all. As a result, India Post's tariff is 70 per cent cheaper for domestic destinations and 30 per cent cheaper for international destinations.

New comp? Hit a mobile store!

New comp? Hit a mobile store!

Rediff.com   14 Jul 2008

The next time you walk into your trendy branded mobile retail store you might come out buying an MP3 player, a Sony Play Station or even a laptop rather than a mobile phone.

Paid mobile entertainment losing steam

Paid mobile entertainment losing steam

Rediff.com   10 Jul 2008

Consider this. Leading broadcaster Star India's mobile interactive division, Star Mobile Entertainment -- which made some serious headway in the space by launching a service whereby mobile users could opt to view soaps from across Star India's network -- recently reviewed its operational strategy.

Bidding to decide 3G price for BSNL, MTNL

Bidding to decide 3G price for BSNL, MTNL

Rediff.com   10 Jul 2008

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to allocate one block of 3G spectrum in each service area except Delhi and Mumbai to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) at a price equivalent to the highest bid in the respective service areas.

DoT hikes reserve price for broadband services

DoT hikes reserve price for broadband services

Rediff.com   9 Jul 2008

The Department of Telecommunications has decided to hike four-fold the reserve price for broadband wireless access services in the country.

Rupee fall may not help IT companies in Q1

Rupee fall may not help IT companies in Q1

Rediff.com   8 Jul 2008

Mark-to-market losses due to the unexpected fall of the rupee against the US dollar, euro and pound; the impact of wage increases in the first quarter; a stagnant global economy; and margin pressure owing to inflation are expected to impact the rupee-term fortunes of Indian IT firms that will declare their quarterly results for the April-June 30 quarter beginning this week.

Mobile users may be 'vishing' for trouble

Mobile users may be 'vishing' for trouble

Rediff.com   3 Jul 2008

Welcome to the world of Vishing or voice phishing, wherein hackers are using a combination of voice over internet protocol, SMSs and the internet to fool and redirect users into dialling a phone number and collect critical information for financial gain. In Kolaskar's case, both mobile spam and vishing were used.

TCS sees synergy in Gen X tools

TCS sees synergy in Gen X tools

Rediff.com   16 Jun 2008

A team of engineers at India's largest IT services provider firm. Tata Consultancy Services, was working on a project for an important client. While it was co-ordinating work from three geographical units - Europe, South America and India - it was finding it difficult to collaborate through telephone or other voice means as there were language and pronunciation hurdles.

VMIL stake: Merrill, Lehman among 4 firms in race

VMIL stake: Merrill, Lehman among 4 firms in race

Rediff.com   13 Jun 2008

VMIL officials declined to comment on the development. According to sources close to the development, VMIL will sell stake to raise money for expanding Hungama, the content and mobile services arm. The Mumbai-based company has already held two to three rounds of meetings with these private equity investors. The company's valuation has been pegged at Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion). The funds raised would be used for Hungama's expansion.

BlackBerry services: DoT supports operators

BlackBerry services: DoT supports operators

Rediff.com   9 Jun 2008

Despite the meetings, exchange of letters and reports that made more than 400,000 users of Blackberry services twitch, the Department of Telecommunications has washed its hands clean. Denying reports of a spat between the DoT and Canada-based provider of BlackBerry services, Research in Motion, a senior department official said, "We have always backed our operators, and this is no different."

Aegis eyes Philippine BPO

Aegis eyes Philippine BPO

Rediff.com   3 Jun 2008

Aegis BPO Services, an Essar Group business process outsourcing (BPO) company, is close to acquiring an 8,000-seater BPO firm in the Philippines. The exact size of the deal is not clear.Aegis has been bullish on inorganic growth as its races to reach a turnover of $500 million (around Rs 2,000 crore) by 2010.

WiMAX makes snail's progress

WiMAX makes snail's progress

Rediff.com   30 May 2008

Telcos may have begun their WiMAX rollouts, but the results are yet to show. Consider this. Tata Teleservices which deployed its first WiMAX network in Bangalore in March, and is expecting to gather a subcsriber base of about 2 lakh by the end of the year, has enrolled just about 7,000 customers in the city.

Firstsource suitors eye Temasek's holding

Firstsource suitors eye Temasek's holding

Rediff.com   28 May 2008

US-based buyout fund Carlyle, Providence Equity Partners, Warburg Pincus and Blackstone are understood to be exploring a buyout of Temasek's holding in Mumbai-based pure-play business process outsourcing firm Firstsource. The news triggered the company's share price to rise 6.76 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to close at Rs 43.45 on Tuesday. Warburg Pincus has a stake in WNS, a BPO company, while Blackstone has a majority stake in Intelenet.

BPOs design in-house curricula to train staff

BPOs design in-house curricula to train staff

Rediff.com   24 May 2008

The broad idea is to help freshers and high-potential employees develop soft skills not generally taught at universities, and simultaneously increase retention rates in an industry that has attrition rates between 30 and 50 per cent. The industry, according to Nasscom estimates, accounts for almost $11 billion and employs slightly over 700,000 professionals (in terms of direct employment).

Growth pangs for mid-cap IT firms

Growth pangs for mid-cap IT firms

Rediff.com   5 May 2008

Sluggish volume growth and mark-to-market losses have affected the performance of a majority of mid-cap information technology companies in the January-March 2008 quarter. Analysts expect that growth will continue to be sluggish in the next two quarters.

No cut in variable pay this year: TCS

No cut in variable pay this year: TCS

Rediff.com   28 Apr 2008

India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will not announce a cut in variable pay of its employees this year , despite the company reporting a negative net profit on sequential basis.Last quarter, the company had announced a reduction in its staff variable pay as it did not achieve the internal targets.

Zapak comes into play for SRK's Knight Riders

Zapak comes into play for SRK's Knight Riders

Rediff.com   23 Apr 2008

Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders have signed on Zapak Digital Entertainment, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) venture, to develop online games for them. As part of the exclusive one-year tie-up, Zapak will create a cricket gaming zone on the official website of the Knight Riders and is said to make an investment of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) in the deal. The exact value of the deal is not known. The portal has already gone live with two games.

Vegetables, ice-creams and now DVDs on carts

Vegetables, ice-creams and now DVDs on carts

Rediff.com   9 Apr 2008

"The response to these carts have been pleasing, we are planning to increase the number of carts to over 2,500 in this fiscal. It not only takes the product to the consumer right at his doorstep but also provides good employment opportunities," says G Dhananjay, chief operating officer of Moser Baer's entertainment division. As prices of DVDs and VCDs reach levels comparable to vegetables, the company is aggressively pushing its DVDs in the market.

WNS ropes in Malinga as brand ambassador

WNS ropes in Malinga as brand ambassador

Rediff.com   4 Apr 2008

WNS Global Services, India's second largest business processes outsourcing company, has signed on Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga as its brand ambassador. It has thus become the first Indian IT services firm to have a brand ambassador. Accenture, a multinational company, is another one that has ace golf player Tiger Woods as its mascot.