October 2010 Vol. 1 | Issue 5

Techtonix October Edition (Magazine version)

Editor's Note

Dear Readers,

The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.

-Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

Poland is one of the countries having the potential to challenge India’s leadership in the field of IT. This issue focuses on the history of technological development in Poland especially related to IT. The country possesses similar comparative advantages in terms of labour available at competitive wages. Justyna and Marcin have done an excellent job in giving us a comprehensive overview of these developments.

Integration can become a big problem for corporates going for an overhaul of their IT architecture. Vikash uses his experience of working in such an atmosphere to throw more light on the challenges of integrating different software platforms. ‘A Tryst with SAP-PM’ by Nitesh does a case study of the implementation of this software platform in his earlier stint with one of the Indian steel majors.

The Google Story has been all about innovation. The technology giant has been able to keep competition at bay by constantly reinventing itself. Hannah tells us more about this in her article on strategic innovation.

And, can any of our issues be complete without our dearly loved column ‘Parting Note’. Sandeep tries his hand at analyzing the forever popping chat windows. Sometimes we love it, sometimes we hate it but we definitely look forward to this new form of communication.

And now the time comes when we must bid adieu but only partially. We may not be involved with the day to day issues of Techtonix but will be there guiding our heirs until we say goodbye to our beloved alma mater. We do feel nostalgic but then we must move on. Change is the only constant and we must make way for fresh blood.

It was a momentous occasion for all of us to start this magazine. The energy and enthusiasm of everyone associated with Techtonix has been tremendous. It is their love and passion for the magazine which allowed us to come out with subsequent issues of Techtonix. It has always been a pleasure to be a part of this magazine. We tried everything in our hands to make it a success story. Only our readers can comment on our success or failure. We have full confidence in the new team and we believe that they will surely take it to heights never seen before. And just to reiterate, love has been the cornerstone of our magazine and we hope we continue to fill your hearts with more and more of the same.

A special note of thanks to Ankit, Hannah, Justyna, Marcin, Nitesh and Vikash for their contributions and to a lot many people who helped Techtonix take baby steps and find a place into the hearts of its readers.

Happy Reading.

Happy Sharing.

Happy Caring.

MJ

Editor : Mritunjay

Associate Editors: Ashish, Ravikash and Shveta

Design : Ashish and Siddharth

Poland: Advancing Towards an Era of High Technology

I was born in Poland and spent the whole of my childhood there. It is the 9th largest country in Europe, with a population of 38 million spread over an area of 312,685 km2. Poland is an emerging market. It can be said to have one of the richest histories in Europe. Poland came under foreign occupation a few times in history. Polish cities were built many times after they had been destroyed. These facts have had a huge impact on present situation in the country concerning all aspects of economy. Since the Second World War, when Poland became independent, it has been continuously trying to catch up with the developed countries of western Europe in many aspects, especially technology and education. In this article, I would like to concentrate more on technological aspect and describe how it has changed in the last few decades.

When I came to primary school for the first time, I do not remember having seen even a single computer at school. Not many of us even knew about a PC. It was about 20 years ago. Of course, there were two, may be four huge cities in Poland where the rich were able to spend so much money on computers. Those were the last years of communism in Poland. After that, the technological situation changed rapidly. There were more computers at schools; three students did not have to work on one computer anymore. Companies were following this trend as well.

More and more businesses needed to be computerized if they wanted to compete with foreign companies, especially from western part of Europe. People also started buying computers for personal use. Technological situation in Poland improved significantly after it had become the member of EU. It had got millions of Euros for modernization and improving computerization at schools and it is continuing even today. Many organizations have taken advantage of European grants in order to raise the level of technology and stand on equal footing with foreign competitors.

From my personal experience, I can say that Polish universities are equivalent in technological level to the most developed countries in Europe. For example, my university, Jagiellonian University in Krakow has recently finished the construction of a new campus. Most of the received money was spent on new information technologies, hundreds of PCs for students, computerized system for library, book lending, air conditioning, door opening, language rooms with modern tools, etc. Talking about companies, I was working for one of Poland’s mid-sized companies which is not the best one in terms of technology, but it uses the latest technology devices. The company employs around 200 people including 100 office workers. Everyone receives mobile phones and notebook computers on their first day at work. It states the most important role in communication between departments of company and facilitates immediate contact with suppliers, customers and other partners. Some of the managers whose work needs more communication with people from outside the company or have many meetings, are supported with more advanced devices like hand-held terminals, blackberries, PDAs etc. It is also possible for employees to work from home if they cannot come to office or if they do not finish their work at the company offices.

The company also uses the internal employee connection – Intranet. It provides them with information and services concerning travel arrangements, human resources, training, financial matters, technical documentation and other tools for work facilitation. There are also some repositories on particular topics such as system engineering, sales etc. Since 2 years, the company has worked on the Extranet which helps it to communicate with all departments and also with crucial suppliers. It allows linkage to the order fulfilment systems and inventory databases so that suppliers can respond to customer requests in real time. The company can track and transfer inventory between different manufacturers to respond to component shortages. Purchase orders and invoices are processed electronically. Sometimes, they use video or audio conferences to connect with other departments or organize professional trainings. It allows for quick, efficient and low-cost face-to-face business meetings without leaving the office. During breaks employees can order meals by sending message to the on-side restaurant, and check on the Intranet if any of the rest rooms are vacant. Moreover, the whole process of recruiting is conducted by the Internet. Sometimes, they use Skype to talk with foreign applicants or conduct video trainings for new employees. In this way, not only our company but others are also reducing costs and increasing productivity and effectiveness of their workers.

In a nut shell, Poland is one of the emerging countries trying to catch up with developed countries in the area of technology. Taking into account my traveling experiences, I must say that we are really close to one of the most advanced levels of technology. We have taken a giant leap in this sphere. Despite the fact that our situation, concerning all aspects of economy, was really poor after WWII, now we are almost at the same level with others. Our companies, schools and universities are becoming more and more computerized, modernized, and finally can compete with the foreign countries. We all hope that one day Poland will reach the pinnacle of success in the technology world.{t}

Justyna is currently spending her time in Napier University in Edinburgh, for her Student Exchange program. She is a student of Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She has quite a long list of interests ranging from swimming, tennis, jogging, skiing etc to fashion and designing. Her immediate goals are to finish her Masters by next year and that too with high grades. She also wants to come over to Asia for an internship of some kind.

The Third World of Integration

Change is constant and this saying becomes even more meaningful in the IT arena. Information Technology is entirely dependent on the needs of the end customers. Needless to say business processes, business logic and business requirements change constantly. There is always scope for new methodologies, innovations and new thought processes. New acquisitions, collaborations and business partnerships have become the face of world trade. Moreover everyday some new striking technology is coming at our doorstep keeping the IT techies on their toes. So to keep the old systems in sync with the new technologies INTEGRATION is required.

Why Integration.

The processes in IT industries are very rigid; they are locked in source code, difficult to change or modify once in production and comply with the specific end user requirements. Customization becomes very expensive sometimes. Adding a separate layer in the architecture for integration and business process change and coordination can solve some of these issues.

Often to incorporate flexibility within a software architecture, integration layer is included at different levels. Let us say in an organization, mainframe systems act as a source system for employee information and a compatible payroll system is used to generate the pay slips of its employee. Also the organization is having several applications on different technologies (let us say on Microsoft platforms). After the advent of SAP technologies, the organization wants to have SAP based payroll system. Also they want this application to communicate with other applications which are running on Microsoft Platforms. What could be the approaches???

One possible solution is to replace the legacy payroll structure with SAP. But this is going to be very costly. It will also need to disrupt the running application on the present legacy system. Also there is no guarantee that in future a better technology will not make this approach unviable. Moreover, it would not be able to communicate with other applications. INTEGRATION is the key here.

Integration is a powerful mechanism which can integrate two different sets of applications of two companies if merger happens. In case of business-to-business partnership scenarios, Service Oriented Architectures and Web Service Technologies plays an important role in re-using each others core operational functionalities, though on different platforms.

Types of Integration

1. Data level Integration.

This kind of integration happens when transformation of data happens between systems in an enterprise. Drivers and adapters are used as port entry for retrieving and pushing information.

2. Presentation level Integration.

This kind of integration happens when the integration is needed at GUI level where the web portals need to communicate with each other though on different platforms. It is quite evident in the case of collaborations between the two enterprises.

3. Application level Integration.

In an enterprise the different applications though on different technologies must communicate with each other. To enable this many interfaces are bundled together in one package.

4. Process Integration

In this kind of integration two or more processes of two or more enterprises are integrated seamlessly to operate them as one.

Major Players in the Market

All the product based companies have understood the power of integration and developed the integration tools to integrate the IT applications to speak in the same language seamlessly. Now the business processes can access data stored in wide range of systems and share seamlessly to streamline the work flow. The major players providing integration tools are:

1. Microsoft.

With tools like BizTalk, it has enabled all the business processes talking to each other simultaneously. Features like RFID and ESB powered with SOA and WCF capabilities make this tool a leader in the market.

2. Tibco.

Tibco has made business and process management even simpler. It not only covers all the key aspects of Enterprise Application Integration but also provides a robust scalable and reliable framework for large scale projects.

3. Web Methods.

Being a key player in integration domain, Web Methods utilize the key principle of message broker and hub and spoke messaging. It is based on Java and supports multi platform diverse services, transformations between one format to other and communication between different systems.

4. Siebel.

Siebel EAI has a suite of protocols to exchange the information bi-directionally with other applications and technologies. The architecture majorly contains connectors like SAP, PSTF and workflow mechanism, adapters, transformers, converters and object managers. It also supports Web Services.

5. PeopleSoft.

It provides the integration solutions for PeopleSoft applications and third party systems. This also completely relies on messaging and message broker mechanism, both synchronous as well non -synchronous.

As long as advancements will happen in technologies, need of integration tools will continue to enable the transition and evolution of enterprise systems. If I call the old legacy systems as the First World and the new technological advancements as the Second World then I must say the integration domain represents the Third World.{t}

An energetic chatterbox, Vikash loves to blog and maintains his own fundae towards life. An Electronics engineer by qualification and a software geek by profession, this fellow is a maverick of sorts. Hardly one to sit around, he is full of plans – whether it is for outings or simply debating indoors. He is also known for his unique hairstyle and irrepressible laughter, both of which he has no control over. Born and brought up in Bokaro, he has been living quite a nomadic life by constantly moving around to places ranging from Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and most recently Hawai.

A Tryst with SAP- PM

Today, India is transforming itself as an efficient business hub and all major players in the field are working constantly towards promoting and expanding their market. In this scenario Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) will be playing a major role in growth and optimum utilization of resources in the big business enterprises as well as SMEs. Companies have a pre-conceived belief that ERP solution helps in streamlining the functionality and technicality of the processes in an organization.

ERP software solutions were initially used only for back office functions. They were not given the due importance and treated just like another supporting function (Reasons like lack of awareness formed one part while other reasons were costs and technical difficulties). Since this led companies to go in for ERP they automatically started to learn more about it either by force or felt need as they were left with no alternative. This indirectly created the awareness among companies. They learned more on ERP and realized its diverse applications. Finally they resorted to use ERP for the whole of the company and stopped the idea of restricting it to mere back office functions. Many companies are still hesitating to invest in ERP due to the exorbitant costs involved in it.

But still a plethora of companies like HUL and Indian Oil boast of having a good ERP solution for their businesses. (Indian Oil’s ERP ‘Manthan’ took 8 years in successful implementation). This is a common phenomenon, as most of the corporates look to rake in the ROI after the implementation. All looked hunk dory to me till I was faced with reality on the ground.

Background

Being a Mechanical Engineer, with limited knowledge of IT, I was working with a leading Indian steel company and was responsible for the mechanical maintenance of their steel melting shop, which made 6 million tonnes of steel. The production process is highly automated with the process being controlled by 3 levels of automation. The plant boasts of the highest plant availability in the world which stands at a staggering 93 %. (Plant Availability is the total time a plant is available for production in a year, excluding the time spent on maintenance and other activities). Furthermore the plant supplies steel to all the leading car manufacturers in the world.

All this seems to be really impressive, but for a maintenance engineer it translates into a nightmare as he would get a downtime of only 7 % in a year including all the breakdowns. So, to meet such requirements one needs to ensure a robust maintenance process, which has loads of planning and data analysis. To meet these requirements of the maintenance functions, the company implemented SAP’s Plant Maintenance (SAP-PM) module.

SAP Plant Maintenance

SAP PM has a logical and a structural classification based on the layout or the process. Most of configurations in this case were structure oriented as this was a process industry. So it was always difficult for the supervisors to log the cases onto the system. There were a lot of prerequisites, which were never taken care of and were left for the operating departments to fulfil.

Reality Check

The SAP is an enterprise based solution which helps the maintenance function to record all maintenance concerns, for example creating time based maintenance modules, creating automated job lists, etc. From the manager’s perspective, apart from creating and recording data, it provides great analytical tools for getting holistic picture of the maintenance activities. One can identify the hitches which regularly cause breakdown, the potential spots of improvement, cost cutting and other value engineering areas.

As I took the charge of a manager, I wanted to know, how the much talked about SAP PM was working, and what our performance was. My department had a SAP PM Utilization index of 85%, but I could understand, there was something wrong in the way we reported data. As with any IT system, the system was as good as the data we fed into it. So, all our compliance was against a few data points that my supervisors fed into the system, mainly at the end of the month. This meant that all the analysis was redundant, and we were not using a tool effectively. I could feel a sense of discomfort with the IT system. The supervisors felt comfortable in filling a manual log book. As per the maintenance practice the company still operated in the reactive maintenance philosophy, where-as we needed preventive and proactive maintenance.

Automated Maintenance

We started by taking everyone into confidence regarding the utility of the ERP, which was followed by a mandate to use the software as the manager would only monitor the daily jobs through SAP. We faced a lot of difficulties, created the basic structure and loaded various job sheets as we went along. It was a very tedious process as it took a lot of extra work and constant monitoring.

Finally we could complete it for a sub section, and all our maintenance orders and inspection job sheets for that section were generated by the system. The operator just got the list and ensured action. We were also able to cut down on a lot of unnecessary jobs compared to the last year. The overall breakdowns did not reduce but gradually we moved towards more predictive maintenance rather than reactive maintenance.

The Final Word

It’s a real tough job to implement an ERP, but it is equally difficult to ensure the full utilization of the tool. It requires a lot of persuasion, commitment and discipline of the top leadership to ensure the utilization. Once the employees realize the benefits by experiencing themselves, the process gets automated. We should remember that working on a computer does not come as naturally to common people as writing does. So this inconvenience has a trade-off with a greater convenience realized in the long run.{t}

An enduring laidback and frustrating system has motivated Nitesh to become extremely dexterous to explore the most effective and efficient ways to outdo it. Apart from chatting and bullying around, this ‘freelance consultant’ born and brought up at Bokaro, learnt the trade secrets of ‘screwing’ at NIT Jamshedpur. He then baked himself in the crucibles of TATA Steel for 3 years, which led him to fall straight into hel[L] better known as IIM [L]ucknow.

Poland: From Isolation to Information Society

Information technology is developing faster and faster. People are finding new opportunities to make their life easier and more comfortable. This amazing evolution was continuous in most countries but not in Poland and other countries of Eastern Union under Soviet influence. Just try to imagine a society absolutely isolated by government. All media was under state control. Any personal contact with foreigners was almost impossible. In addition to that, propaganda was a normal part of politics. The most interesting was the economic system especially in view of the average person. Empty shops became the symbol of communism in Poland. People were waiting for ten hours or longer in queue just to come in to a shop where they were told, “We just have vinegar, matches and vodka. Next delivery will be in one week. What do you want?” To buy some mechanical or electrical item like a car or a radio one needed personal relations with manager of the shop or with some politician or loads of patience. You had money but you could not spend it.

It was 1989 when Poland became totally independent. The economy collapsed and Poland became a Republic of Nothing. Poles were watching national television risking explosion of legendary soviet TV while few kilometers farther, in Western Europe using computers, internet and mobile phones was already a normal activity for people. High Technology had become a normal part of every day’s life. This great void between levels of economical attractiveness and technology had to be filled by appropriate actions of national institutions like Ministry of Education and many others especially some NGOs.

In 1994 Poland organized its First Congress of Polish Computer Science. Level of computerization was critical. Most of companies and national institutions still didn’t have any connect with computer technology. In addition Polish schools and universities were not able to educate young people in the use of IT. Poland had 40 million citizens but produced only a few hundred graduates in Computer Science every year. Worse was the situation of the graduates educated in 70s and 80s disappearing from universities because of possibility of higher compensation in private sector and emigration. During this period economically my country was like a “wild free market”. Competition between companies in many fields was based on price pressure. First acquisitions of traditionally Polish enterprises were perceived as selling of national property for nothing. But these actions opened access of Poland to newer technologies. Polish market of technology was mainly based on import of goods from developed countries which destroyed most of Polish tech companies. Access to IT products and services became easier with every passing year but level of prices remained as one of the problems. In the beginning, internet available for masses was very expensive. The revolution in the market was a product offered by TP (monopolist in IT and telecommunication sector) called “Neostrada”. Their customers could use unlimited internet after paying a fixed monthly fee.

We can say that development of Poland in context of IT and telecommunication started to be visible in 2004. Poland became a member of European Union and started to be obligated to fulfill requirements created by this organization. According to Lisbon Agenda we had to create a framework for implementation of high technology and facilitating access to information for all citizens and organizations. One of the landmark national actions was creating a “Strategy of Computerization of Republic of Poland called as e-Polska”. In this document Ministry of Science and Computerization focused on three main objectives of modernization. First of them was to provide an access to broadband internet (as well as other IT solutions) for all citizens and organizations. Second was creating an education system to facilitate use of these tools. The last aim was to create rich offer of digital service through internet.

In the beginning of this action Poland showed really poor position in all rankings of modernity. For example in 2002 just 30% of Poles had access to home phones and just 36% to mobile phones. At the same time western countries like Czech Republic and Hungary, the level stood at 60-90%. Access to internet in Poland was available to only 26% of population. By 2004 Poland became much more developed and 74% had home phones and 55% had mobile phones. In 2010 Poland has 38 million citizens and already 45 million are mobile phone users. The policy was successful in providing internet connection as well. In 7 years the percentage of houses equipped with broadband internet access increased from 26 to 51%. We are still one of the least developed among the European countries but the distance is reducing continuously.

Government started purchasing computers to help educate students at school. The objective was to schools provide one computer for maximum number of 2 students for computer classes. Our government launched obligatory computer science lessons at all levels of education. That was usually our first contact with high end technology for most of the students. Next step in modernization of schools was facilitating access to internet resources. Now 15 years later almost all schools have access to broadband internet. Interactive classes with computers and e-learning is increasingly becoming more and more popular. Computer Science is gaining ground as one of the most popular branches of science for higher studies as well. Poland supports new students with high scholarships in this area. In addition, business has no problems in absorbing graduates in IT in spite of increasing number of students of computer science. These facts motivate young people to become specialists in the field of IT.

Poland’s economy is characterized by competitive wage rates and well-educated manpower. Accessibility to network on 90% of the territorial area and 75% of population till 2013 is one of the priorities in infrastructure domain. One of the projects linked with increasing competitiveness of Poland is the creation of an e-department. All national services are obligated to exist on the internet. That is why creating of databases and sites including important universal information for customer is being encouraged. This program also includes the possibility of sending important documents by internet. In Poland specialists noticed a new social problem called “Digital Exclusion”. That is one of the most dangerous problems for modern society. The problem touches especially people from villages where access to information is more expensive and salaries are lower. Such a situation breaks the rule of providing equal opportunities for all citizens. Till 2020 Poland wants to implement e-Democracy program. It would mean voting by internet and filling all formalities linked with economic and political life of each person and organization through the internet. Poland is trying to support local initiatives related to implementation of information technology in small villages as well as in metropolis.

Another existing project with high importance to information technology is ‘Friendly Country’. This project assumes that facilitating formalities is the easiest way of increasing entrepreneurial capacities of its citizens. Authors of this project envisage the possibility of sending tax settlements and VAT invoices by internet and create ‘One Window System’ (all formalities in one office) in establishment of new enterprises. E-PUAP (E-Platform of Services of Public Administration), also called ‘Polish Gate’ is another of the government projects. The most important services under these 29 planned services list are divided into two groups: Services for Citizens and Services for Enterprises. In the first group we will have a possibility to send tax settlement, arrange meeting with doctors, vote, borrow books from a library, look for a job, apply to universities, control affairs linked with individual and social assurance, etc. For companies, the country offers access to official statistics, possibility of sending data to customs office, taking part in public auctions, paying for assurance of company and employees, sending tax settlement etc. Government estimates that this IT revolution will increase efficiency up to 150% of actual level. In addition by 2013 all public organizations have to have websites available in Polish and at least one additional official language of EU.

Internet related crimes have become a reality along with all the benefits espoused by IT. These crimes can touch every citizen or company individually but can be dangerous for the whole country. Polish Police created a special department dedicated to fighting electronic crimes and providing safe internet. Through this department the police continuously monitor internet, and search for threats such as phishing, pedophilia or illegal trade (human trafficking, drugs dealing, weapon trade etc). The same section is responsible for safety of financial operations made by using internet and credit cards. After conflicts erupted between Estonia and Russia and Georgia and Russia using cyber attack on national institutions, Poland started a public debate on national security. Effect of this debate was creating special department in army consisting of hackers and specialists in system security to defend the most important institutions against individual or mass attack.

Last twenty years for my country has been a period of amazing change. Statistically we are still not considered a leader in technological development but our progress seems to be fine. From absolutely isolation, we became a country where most citizens have easy access to information from all around the world. We became a member of EU. We now dream of becoming a country with extremely high levels of modernity and providing good life for all citizens by leveraging all opportunities provided by IT in the 21st century.{t}

Marcin, from Poland and as an Erasmus student in IECS Strasbourg, realised that his major career goals are to work in a multinational company as a logistics specialist or project planner. He wants to practice multitasking by simultaneously working and studying together. He is a sports enthusiast, specially enjoying mountain biking and swimming. Travelling, partying and watching movies are a few more of his interests.

Strategic Innovation- The Google Way

“Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and ideas the source of innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress” -Ted Levitt

After much thought and deliberation, I have identified one company that has succeeded in initiating a strategic innovation: Google. In 2009, Google reported roughly $23.65 billion in revenue and continues to grow annually. The question remains, how does Google do it? As we will examine throughout this article, we can attribute numerous factors to Google’s success. Among them we will focus on Google’s diverse range of product offerings, Google AdWords, as well as Google’s unique corporate culture which has paved the way to a work environment which is conducive to creativity and innovation.

Google has created services and tools for the general public and business environment alike; including Web applications, advertising networks and solutions for businesses. Of the variety of products offered by Google, perhaps the most popular is the search engine. Google’s search engine makes up roughly 64% of the market share of search marketing, followed by Yahoo with around 21%, and Microsoft with an estimated 8%. However, simply limiting Google to its search engine would be a sore mistake. Google offers a plethora of innovative products such as Gmail, Googledocs, Youtube, SMS texting services, Sketch up, iGoogle, Google Health, Google Chrome, Google Checkout, Google Book Search, and so much more. Google has revolutionized the way the world receives its information.

Due to Google’s strong work force, unique methods of acquiring profits, state of the art technology and products, and creative work environment Google is able to remain on the cutting edge of industry innovations. Invention is a necessary phase of innovation. It all begins with a problem which must be solved using limited resources. This leaves the company with the task of collecting new knowledge regarding the issue and evaluating that knowledge based on selective criteria in order to make the best decision. In terms of Google, we could take a look at any one of their inventions regarding technology to support this theory. For the moment, let’s examine Google Chrome, their latest web browser. We can note this as an invention because it was generated after much serious thought and time spent on R&D. The technology used in Chrome was evaluated and decided upon as the best possible solution to the problem of creating a new web browser.

Google is continuously improving its strategy and adapting to the needs of the market. As we will analyze in the second part of this article, we will prove exactly how Google has succeeded in implementing strategic innovations.

According to online sources, a strategic innovation is defined as “the creation of growth strategies, new product categories, services or business models that change the market and generate significant new value for consumers, customers and the organization.” As per this definition, it is quite clear to see how Google fits this mold. Back in 1997, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin first came up with the idea for their search engine technology, they were on their path to revolutionize and improve the process of online research. As a result, by 1998 Google had been named the top search engine. By using their unique business model (Google AdWords, a quick and easy way for companies to advertise online), Google was able to generate the wealth necessary to grow and expand the company in other domains, create new product categories. Google’s products and services have generated significant new value for consumers that its competitors cannot even dream of competing at the same level.

An innovation is linked highly to success, it can be associated with the “initial economic application of the new solution to a problem” (Burr 2004 p.25). Furthermore, an innovation is generally defined by its market launch and the process of market diffusion. Therefore we have an innovation when we mix the knowledge and technology required for an invention with the business tools necessary to take that idea to the market place and establish that product as profitably. In terms of Google, it is safe to say that within one day after Google announced a beta version of its new open source browser, the general public reacted strongly with roughly 6,000 news stories and 50,000 blog postings in just one day. How did Google attract this kind of attention and launch their new product/invention? Well the answer is simple; they found creative and innovative methods of introducing it to the market. They used a unique comic book approach which outlined the problem in simple terms; they created a corporate blog, a Wikipedia post, a YouTube how-to video along with a YouTube press conference video, in addition to using the online social networking site Twitter to promote their product.

All in all, it is quite clear for us to see how Google is a top of the line, innovation driven company that is continuously improving. Based on the wide range of products/services available to consumers world-wide and the immense value added by these products/services it is hard not to praise Google for being such a well-known icon. Google has become so well-known that people are actually using it as a verb “to Google.” As of 2006, the verb Google actually became an accepted part of the Oxford English Dictionary. What a great thing to become a part of everyday vocabulary. That is what we call innovation reaching glorious heights.{t}

Hannah is a senior at Bowling Green State University in Northwest Ohio studying International Business,

Management, French, and Entrepreneurship. Hannah has had valuable internship experiences at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems as well as Affirm Global Development. Hannah looks forward to what the future hold after graduation in May 2011.

Tech maze

1. Lena Soderberg appeared as a Playmate in the November 1972 issue of Playboy magazine. But how is she or rather to be precise the below picture of hers important in the field of IT?

2. The Website ranks 2 on Alexa rankings. The founder founded the website long with fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Because of some controversies it has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Pakistan, Syria, the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan and North Korea. Recently a movie has been made about the story and the controversies surrounding the website which is slated for a December 1 release in India? What are we talking about?

3. This company grew ten fold in a matter of ten years to $25 billion and achieved its position of dominance by consistently delivering on what is known as the Moore’s Law. Identify.

4. The name of this Indian company comes from the english translation of a famous quote by Rene Descartes. Identify the company from the logo.

5. One of his prominent quotes is “Quality is not only obtainable, but essential.” He was so obsessed with eliminating waste that he is said to have marked the eggs in his refrigerator with the purchase date so that the oldest would be eaten first. Who is he?

6. Where was Windows 95 launched and why?

7. Who in 1943 said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers?”

8. Identify the logo.

9. Identify this legend who created a software that gave the music industry nightmares .

10. Connect these pictures to two gentlemen

Conversations in Real-time

~Parting Note~

As per the dictionary definition, the innocuous word “chat” means to converse in a friendly and informal manner. But, in the social networking world, it means much more.

An online chat lacks voice, gestures, touch and expression. Still, in spite of the fact that in an online chat, we are using none of the four senses of perception namely sight, smell, touch and hearing, it is becoming one of the most popular mediums of communication. It is precisely the lack of these senses that gives the person an opportunity to project an image of herself which she would prefer the world to see. It gives the person a lot more personal space. It gives her time to frame her sentences, to think a bit before expressing herself. It is a boon for people who are not blessed with the gift of the gab, but have a good command over the written form of language. An emotionally charged individual would always find it easier to communicate through an online chat.

This virtual world makes up for the lack of visual expressions by devising its own means of expressions. Animation can be conveyed through a liberal use of capital letters and punctuation. One can employ a range of emoticons to laugh, cry, smile, scowl, wink, grimace or even look sheepish. Spoken words, however profound, are forgotten sooner or later; but chats running into thousands of lines and running for a couple of hours can be saved and read and savoured later as many times as you would want to.

In a virtual community, you can let others know about what is currently on your mind through status messages. This can make the start of a conversation easier by breaking the ice. One can also display their willingness or unwillingness to talk by posting an “available” or “busy” status message. Another key aspect of the online chat is the fact that it allows for interaction with several persons at a time through different chat windows. Since the people involved are not sitting face to face nobody feels alienated or ignored, as often happens in a social gathering. This also depends on the person chatting and his ability to handle different conversations at a time. One of the key things that the advent of online chat has accomplished is to revive the culture of writing letters, albeit in a more sophisticated form. It is on a real time basis where both the sender and receiver exchange information within a short time gap.

Critics of this form of communication say that it has led to a propensity among young people to use short forms and incorrect grammar which may in future lead to a change in ‘literacy norms’. But it has to be kept in mind that languages exist so that people can freely communicate with each other and choose words that best express their emotions. The English language with its precision, simplicity and diversity is why it is one of the most frequently used languages and a natural choice for teaching subjects.

And so, as I finish writing this, I switch to my chat window and there is it, that special “ping” I’ve been waiting for since evening. Time for some chit-chat guys. {t}

An engineering degree from NIT Rourkela and a good amount of work experience in various companies should have turned Sandeep into a talkative, bumbling personality. He shows his awesomeness when he smashes, bowls, bats and strikes in various sports activities. He does not like hypocrisy and is known by various different names, some of them funny, some of them full of respect. Sandeep is one mystery all of us would like to unravel (even his own room-mate.)

Tech Maze Key

1. Lena’s image is the most widely used test image for all sorts of image processing algorithms (such as compression and denoising) and related scientific publications.

2. Facebook

3. Intel Corporation is an American global technology company and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue.

4. I Think Therefore I am. Ittiam Systems is an Embedded Software and Systems Design Company which specializes in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) based applications in Multimedia and Communications domains. It has a global customer base of over 300 companies in OEM / ODM industry and ASIC / SOC industry.

5. William Edwards Deming (1900 – 1993) was an American statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and consultant. Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's later reputation for innovative high-quality products and its economic power. He is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage.

6. In Poland, journalists were taken in a submarine to experience "a world without Windows." Over 70,000 people tuned in to watch the launch event live via satellite. The Empire State Building in New York City was even lit up with the Windows 95 logo. The launch was a hit with coverage in all channels of media of Windows 95 arrival, which would usher in a new era in computing.

7. Thomas John Watson, Sr. (1874 – 1956) was the president of International Business Machines (IBM), who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956. A leading self-made industrialist, he was one of the richest men of his time and was called the world's greatest salesman when he died in 1956.

8. The One Laptop per Child Association, Inc. (OLPC) is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of an affordable educational device for use in the developing world. OLPC is a non-profit organization funded by member organizations such as AMD, eBay, Google, News Corporation, Red Hat, and Marvell.

9. Sean Parker (Born 1979) is an American Internet technology businessman and entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded Napster, a free file-sharing service for music that drew the ire of recording labels and the Recording Industry Association of America. Lawsuits by various industry associations eventually shut down the service. His father began teaching him programming at the age of 7, and when he was 16 he was sentenced to community service for hacking.

10. ©Brain (the industry standard name being Brain) is, in its first incarnation written in January 1986, considered to be the first computer virus for MS-DOS. It infects the boot sector of storage media formatted with the DOS File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. Basit Alvis and Amjad Alvis (Nationality: Pakistan) were the creators of this first ever computer virus.

{t}echtonix: the inside story

October'10 Issue Invitation

We at Techtonix want to bring out the October'10 issue where authors from different areas discuss about the most exciting technological changes happening in their sectors.

Your kind co-operation would go a long way in making this issue a great success.

Probable Topics:

1. The most exciting technological innovations in sector, preferably related to IT
The author/s can choose to write on a single issue or the general technological scene in their sector.

2. Topical debates in their country in the field of technology preferably related to IT.
The author/s can choose to write on any one issue at length or several issues to give a broad perspective of the ideological/ moral/ ethical position of the sector/ individual on these issues.

3. Personal experiences related to technological changes, preferably related to IT (Information Technology) in the author’s sector.

4. A critique of the policies of the national government in the author’s sector with regards to technology preferably related to IT (Information Technology)

5. Any other topic in the technological domain which interests the author very strongly and would like to share with us.

Word limit: 800-1000 words

The authors should send their photographs and brief bio-data to be published along-side their articles.

Submission deadline: 22th October 2010

For any clarification please feel free to contact us on any of the email ids or mobile phone number.

techtonix@iift.ac.in
techtonix.iift@gmail.com
+91-9163715373

Soulmate Hunting

-Parting Note-

“Only a human mind could create something as insipid as love”

- Agent Smith, The Matrix Revolutions

Love - the sweet surrender; the only thing that’s eternal in a blink-and-you-miss-it world. It’s what makes the world go round, isn’t it? Move over petty addictions like crack, smack and pot, here is the miracle drug. As history has been witness, Homo-sapiens have been wretched without the warm shoulder

and gentle peck on the cheek. We’ve raided cities on wooden horses, crossed salty deserts and even saltier oceans, our genealogically distant cousins have been known to scale the Empire State Building - all in the name of the pretty little thing called Love. Through the ages, Love, or what we make of it, has been transforming, evolving and adapting. So, what does love look like at the dawn of the new millennium?

The answer is one word - ghastly! Like all other well-meaning horribly mashed up by-products of Technology (read: Windows Vista, Farmville and Justin Bieber), Love in the Time of Mozilla is like a Sarah Jessica Parker Botox lift: ugly. As you read this, millions around the world are cringing, smiling, flirting and blushing in front of a computer screen, their fingers neatly positioned across a hundred and four plastic keys, and occasionally glancing at the tiny aperture of a web camera, trying to make the impossible eye contact, and hoping that its love at the 425th sight. Yes, dear mortals, our relentless quest in search of a better world has had some unfortunate collateral damage.

Before you make accusations of how anachronistic, old-school and steadfastly purist I am, let it be known that my idea of love is not to consume poison below some antique balcony at the sight of a passed out girl (now that I think of it, that latter half of the idea with the passed out girl isn’t all that bad).

I’m all for science and progress and betterment of society and world peace. But, I do believe that there are certain “somethings” in us that define us, make

us who we are - the most intelligent species on the planet (dolphin-lovers go take a hike!). Remember the simple joy and growing anticipation on meeting that friend’s friend at a party. How one could start on a completely empty slate, devoid of any mental imagery, and then build on it, and keep building. Sometimes

(or most of the times, depending on how much or how little you know your Stinson), what we built would come crashing down like a house of cards, but every once in a while, we would end up with a Legometropolis. And at the end of it, we’d look back with a little “Ha!” in our voice, thinking how incompatible

we would’ve been if we’d played by the rules (the rules that most dating sites now follow to ‘match’ people - books, hobbies, interests and all that jazz). There is something truly beautiful in watching Love bloom unhindered and undirected, as though it were a natural progression of events. The idea of registering on a website and striking up a conversation with somebody who you know is probably talking to five more like you at the same instant, and mouthing the same words of affection and terms of endearment is not my idea of romance.

Think about it, we are today what our Facebook and Myspace profiles suggest. I’m a hardcore Floyd and Classic Rock fan, yet I have no reason to believe that my Cleopatra will appreciate the true beauty of Dark Side of the Moon. Just because the two of us love Ayn Rand does not mean that our rational self-interests are suitably aligned. In the era where parents want to order their children a-la-carte off the gene menu, the idea of fully-customized, factory-fitted “soul mate” seems somewhat reasonable.

Make no mistake, I’m not implying complete banishment by decree of all social networking and online dating sites, or the internet as a communication medium. All I’m saying is that, at the risk of sounding hackneyed and clichéd, it’s alright to use them as a means to an end, as opposed to an end to a means. I’m pretty sure I’m going to ruffle quite a few feathers with this endless rant of mine, some of you may want to unload a double barreled shotgun in my throat. But, while you’re at it, stop for a moment to ponder. Go out, dear Reader, the world is your oyster. You don’t need a couple of mainframe servers stacked in some corner of the globe to tell you who to love, you surely know better.

Or do you? {t}

A lifelong apathy towards work has left him absolutely inept in the ways of the world. Ingit, hence, spends his time critiquing anything that catches his attention (especially to his pet shoe called Shoe). A Floyd and Doors fan, he is infamous for his incessant zest of trying to be funny, come bouquets, brickbats or lethal projectiles. Ingit is managing his new student life at MDI (with ease) after working a microscopic stint in the Foreign Trade sector.

tech MAZE Answers

1. Safari

2. Robot

3. Honda

4. Maya

5. A Large Ion Collider Experiment

6. All are versions of MacOS

7. Thomas Alva Edison’s Black Maria was his film research laboratory. It was built on a revolving base to follow the sun’s path to capture maximum natural light.

8. Bubble Wrap

9. Foxconn – for human right violations

10. Fear of losing mobile phone or contact.

Interesting Websites

Freelance Project Sites

http://www.innovationexchange.com/

IX operates a website which acts as a platform for companies and non-profit organizations to present innovation challenges to a community of innovators. This community is constituted of individuals as well as small and midsize businesses. Innovation Exchange fosters product, service, process and business model innovation. The mechanism for this innovation intermediation is a challenge brief. The challenge brief is a short document, typically three to five pages in length, which provides background information about the innovation being sought and enumerates the elements that a response must include. IX provides consulting services which aid client companies to understand the nature of the innovation being sought, and to articulate that innovation challenge to the community in the form of the challenge brief.

Competitors offering similar services include NineSigma, MillionBrains, Fellowforce, Innocentive, Yet2.com, and YourEncore.

http://www.guru.com/

With more than 1 million registered members, Guru.com is the world’s largest online marketplace for freelance talent and a leader in providing quality freelance services. They provide businesses with the ability to find the help they need from a variety of talented Freelancers worldwide. Their proprietary Ranking System leverages performance data to make the freelancer selection process easy and reliable - every time. Once connected, Employers can securely pay Freelancers through Guru.com’s SafePay system. For Freelancers, Guru.com offers the opportunity to market sought-after skills to a global audience with minimal cost.

Domestic Internships

www.10internship.in

A very good website for MBA Internship, BE / BTech Internships, MCA Internship, Graduates Internships, Summer Internships, Winter Internships in India. On these free, no registration website one can also find tips for doing summer internships in India.

International Internships

www.iagora.com

iAgora helps international students from planning their study abroad to getting inernational internships. It attracts international students through relevant services and content and then allows companies to easily recruit from this special candidate pool. The result is that companies find the international candidates they want and international students find the internships and entry-level jobs they desire.

www.qs.com

QS is the leading global career and education network for ambitious professionals looking to further both their personal and professional development. With extensive contacts in the field of higher education, their industry expertise and experience gives them the flexibility to adapt to the needs of their prospective clients.

Tech MAZE

1. If you loved Apple, what would you surf the web with?

2. ______ was first coined by Isaac Asimov in ‘Liar!’.

3. ASIMO was made by which company?

4. Which famous software was used in Matrix trilogy?

5. Expand ALICE who lives in CERN.

6. What do Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther and Tiger represent in the case of Operating Systems?

7. What was the ‘Black Maria’?

8. Which common modern packaging material was invented in 1957 by sheer chance while engineers were trying to perfect plastic wall paper?

9. Why was Hon Hai’s subsidiary in the news for?

10. What is Nomophobia?

Aditya is an engineer who focuses more on extra-curriculars rather than marks because that’s where his real learning is! He has an extreme dislike for ‘oversmart’ and pretentious people and somehow fish also come under that category. He was working in Infosys when IIFT came calling. Travelling and eating are all he likes doing apart from dabbling in a little quiz trivia sometimes.

Tech wars

Gone are the days when war meant, armour clad chauvinistic males ridding huge horses or clashing on foot, resulting in lot of noise and bloodshed either for power or love. The wars these days are being fought between hubristic corporate houses and that too over a ‘cloud’. Well don’t just panic, this is not the rain clouds that I am talking about. These are the clouds of information which the geeks of the corporate world like to call “cloud computing”. The concept of “cloud computing” has gained so much prominence that the technology giants are ready to shell out anything to gain access to these clouds of information.

For those who are still wondering what cloud computing is, let me explain further. Cloud computing offers to help people store information on rented spaces on servers far away from them. If you are a corporate and you want to access some of the frequently used software like say MS office and you don’t want to purchase the software for your machines as these softwares tend to become obsolete very soon. All you need to do is login to one of these clouds, access the software you require, pay only for the time for which you use it and then log out. Now with this, the companies expect to save a lot on unnecessary money spent on maintaining big servers and stacking those softwares which they anyways have to change again. The companies can now focus on their core competencies and let these cloud owners take care of the information technology infrastructure. Some of the companies showing active interest in this form of virtualization of content are Microsoft, HP, Dell, IBM, Google, Salesforce etc.

Now let us come back to the war that we were talking about. Recently HP which has lost its CEO on account of dodgy expense claims and sexual harassment has attacked Dell which had earlier made an offer to buy 3PAR a utility storage firm based out of Fremont, California by placing a competitive higher bid. There is a lot of good news for this little known company 3PAR whose shares are currently valued at 45% higher than HP’s own valuation. Dell had bought a utility storage firm EqualLogic in 2007. Hewlett Packard has offered to pay $1.6 billion which is a third higher than the bid paced by Dell. This desperation shows that like many other big tech firms, Dell and HP have no shortage of ammunition with which to wage war. Both have billions of dollars in their coffers waiting to be deployed and both see acquisitions as a quick way of boosting their presence in the cloud. Intel’s $7.7 billion bid for the internet security firm McAfee is pointing towards the tech companies’ inclination towards inorganic growth to step out of recession. HP has already entrenched itself deep into the IT sector by a few acquisitions earlier like the network device maker 3com, tech services provider Electronic Data Systems and mobile device company Palm. Such deals have turned it into a sprawling $125-billion enterprise with over 300,000 employees. This shows the HP army in quite a strong position relative to Dell. Bidding wars between the high technology companies is rare as most of the deals are finalized behind closed doors but the spats between Oracle and IBM for Sun Microsystems and recently between HP and Dell seems to be pointing towards the changing rules of the game.

Well it seems that the tech companies want a larger share in this cloud so that when the time comes they can play Gods by controlling the information rain. This way they can define the landscape of the future information technology. It is yet to be seen what will be the outcome of this war and how long will it stretch but you better listen when the weather girls sing, “ it’s raining men! Hallelujah! It’s raining men! Hallelujah!”. {t}

After having completed his B.Tech in Biotechnology from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi, “dreamy-eyed” Jayant decided to join IIFT for his MBA(IB). Being a hard-core “techi”, he found solace in Techtonix where he writes on latest gizmoz making rounds in the market. This time he’s tried to bring up yet another scintillating coverage of a tech war.

Net Neutrality – Under Threat?

Any revolutionary technology creates waves in our lives at the inception, but as time progresses finer details become points of intense debate. Mobile phones revolutionized our lives by practically bringing the world together but these days several critiques of the device point out to adverse facts and figures. Internet is another such innovation.

This article is an attempt to analyze the economic impact of Net neutrality. Net neutrality is the concept of providing identical internet access to two users provided they pay equal amount to avail the facility. Broadband internet is one source of providing internet access to users. This domain has wide coverage and large user base. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of broadband connection are attempting to legalize the preferential treatment for different data types being exchanged through the internet. For example, ISPs use their last mile distribution network to discriminate between Peer to Peer (P2P) transfers and have taken steps to slow the speed of such transfers. The issue has gained prominence in the last 10 years and has resulted in formation of two major camps of companies both for and against the notion of Net Neutrality. High profile advocates of Net Neutrality include companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay. These companies are pitched directly against the might of big hardware and cable and telecommunication companies like AT&T, Verizon, USTA and Cable.

Theories and arguments have been flying from both camps to prove their points but no consensus could be reached even in the US House of Commons. . Proponents of network discrimination say that network neutrality principles may contribute to the “commoditization” of last-mile broadband facilities, which will in turn discourage investments in establishing new network and adding capacity to the existing networks. This claim is countered by the proponents of network neutrality. They state that network discrimination results in patents in technology which results in inferior goods and thus kills innovation. A discriminated network results in increased R & D costs. This deters smaller firms to utilize the existing resources to find new methods of hardware production. Users have to remain content with what has been offered. In such situation, innovation depends totally on the companies having rights to these patents or which are strong economically.

Another point of concern which has been raised over net neutrality is that it results in misuse of installed capacity. P2P transfers and online video streaming websites like YouTube use a large chunk of bandwidth. According to findings, such transactions alone result in more data transfer in a month than combined data transfer of world’s radio and television in a year. Using network diversity, the aim is to allocate lesser bandwidth to such transactions. But it is again said that many protocols and content could only be developed because of the freedom of internet. Thus discriminating on this basis may kill innovation in the software industry.

It is said that neutral net resulted in fair competition and thus led to development of the whole system. The revolution called INTERNET is only successful because of the availability of unbiased network. But it is also argued that today large organizations use their might to employ additional servers to their advantage by providing faster and enhanced interfaces which the new websites are not able to develop.

Establishing a new broadband network involves large capital investments which have to be borne by the ISP. These ISP argue that a tiered charging structure lets them cover such costs effectively. But then such costs can be effectively covered by reaching economies of scale. Large consumer base automatically results in superior revenues. It is also believed that the differential treatment will result in increased costs for the consumer which is bad for the market as well as for the society.

So far only companies directly related to internet have been active in the debate. But with the increasing use of IT in every sector of the economy, any decision on Net Neutrality will have a direct impact on all businesses dependent on internet. Today companies aggressively use virtualization networks, softwares as applications and cloud computing solutions to be more cost effective. Business fuctions like Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management extensively use IT to increase the efficieny of their opertaions. Any decision to control internet will have direct implications on there businesses as well.

Thus a mixed opinion prevails on this sensitive issue. Several solutions have been provided till date. The most notable of them all is recently suggested by two giants Verizon and Google. This proposal is based on discriminating on the basis of Quality of Service (QoS). Though a unique attempt, it has failed to gain popularity. Initial response from the Web community has largely been negative. This proposal is mainly seen an attempt to provide more authority to the government agencies. At the same time it also has few loopholes which the existing service providers can utilize to increase benefits. The new proposal involves giving limited rights to the broadband connection provider to provide enhanced speed at a higher price and does not involve discriminating on the basis of protocols. This proposal also says that service providers have to provide all type of contents which do not cause “meaningful harm”. But there still is ambiguity over the definition of “meaningful harm”. Overall, the proposal claims to protect the internet democracy but may result in creation of parallel internet worlds, one slower than the other. It is claimed that if this proposal is implemented, it will bring transparency to the system as ISP will have to disclose their operation parameters. It will also ensure better network management by preventing congestion and harmful traffic thus resulting in better quality of surfing. But it may make the companies providing the internet stronger and result in increased costs for the users. Thus it is because of the ambiguity of the proposal, masses are apprehensive about the idea of giving up the freedom they have enjoyed till now. Time will unfold the next episode in this saga. Till then let us enjoy the availability of the free internet.{t}

An electrical engineer by choice, Arjit, has worked in RIL and later, moved on to pursue his MBA from IIFT, Kolkata. He spends his time idolizing the Arsenal team and prefers solving logical puzzles in his free time. An explorer by nature, his favorite hobby is checking out new places and then sketching them out.

Rural Business And Technology -Prospects And Challenges

Business always lies in the hands of risk and uncertainty. Admittedly, the usage of technology helps to capture the lag effects of (information) on risk-return equation for any ventures and tries to increase probability of payoff and ultimately, profit to the claimant or entity. This phenomenon is obvious and episodic in nature of business observed, factually documented, and analysed in the realm of technology, especially, information and communication technology for development (ICT4D; Heeks, 1996).

Today we are more obsessed with this term as a mimic of technological innovations, which has been experienced by many organisations, academics, and policy makers, namely, Microsoft, Digital Green, Labour-Net, Mobile Banking-organisations or micro finance organisations (EKO, FINO), SMEbusiness entities (Rangasutra), and many more. Having said that, the application of ICT coupled with diversity of inputs and innovations regimes are critical to the central theme of development of “rural business” through a proximal usage. Once upon a time, Bill Gates coined a term, “category error” which asserts that why should we give a poor family a computer when they need food. Similarly, why should we consider ICTs for development when there are so many pressing agendas?

Appropriate, affordable, accessible technologies, if not complex ones, provide an effective solution to the problem in rural areas where literacy, nutrition, sanitation - all are burning issues and these have created pressing needs for the rural poor. Technology in this context should be viewed as a tool, not the goal to augment the business opportunities.

Digitizing rural: Prospect lies there

If the above argument makes some sense, it is then evident that we perpetuate to or live in knowledge or information based network-society (Castells, 1996). Arguably, are modern ICTs the best tools to enhance communication and close knowledge or information gaps? Is it a digital divide? To succeed in any business, information plays a vital role. Mostly, rural businesses suffer from information asymmetry. Infrastructural inadequacy is another hindrance which makes the rural business handicapped very often.

So, technology in terms of providing better information and suitable infrastructure are always a welcome step. A few secondary research shows that when rural business ties the knot with technology, it increases total efficiency in the entire supply chain not only to the kiosks (Kuriyan and Toyama, 2007; Sey, 2009. This reminds us about the examples of ITC-eChoupal for Soybean procurement at Dewas and Ujjain districts of Madhya Pradesh, and Saksam-a rural kiosk in Karnataka, a Microsoft initiative; Saravanan et al., 2007. We can also look at the success of Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI), emerged from the incubation cell of IIT-Chennai in 2006 (in collaboration with nlogue) to promote entrepreneurship for sustainable development besides, diversifying inputs for innovations in the gamut of agriculture, education, and vocational training.

Similarly, Labour-Net is another example of ICT4D which has promoted informal-service sector market place for micro-entrepreneurs and workers. Benefits the organisation render are customised by improving employability, locating service providers, offering increasingly trained service providers who can deliver quality services to clientele.

On the other hand, Digital Green (funded by Melinda and Gates Foundation) is a reference of cost-effective technology driven organisation for promoting sustainable agriculture using cloud-based database linked with local database system (COCO model). Hand-holding with many NGOs, viz., ASA, PRAGATI, VARRAT, Access, PRADAN, Digital Green would be able to transform odd 1,200 villages of rural India (which are predominantly inhabited by 60,000 small land-holders) since 2004. A pilot survey conducted encompassing 12 villages in 2006-07 was a landmark achievement for the organisation.

Technology also promotes transparency and readiness of work in several departments of the government. E-Sewa (Andhra Pradesh), Bhoomi (Karnataka), Gyandoot (Madhya Pradesh), E-Gram (Rajasthan) are few initiatives which came in the late nineties or early twenties at the behest of government of India (Kumar, 2009).

In some ways, banking sector in post-financial reforms has witnessed significant changes of deliverables in the realm of technology and innovation. Mobile banking (EKO) is a good example. This intervention as a form of business-correspondent (BC-FINO) model has been benefiting the customers and agents in a way that has secured usability with low cost technology to promote an alternative channel for money transfer or remittances, deposits mobilizations in remote areas. Hence, prospects are many but implementation is critical and thus, requires a contextual understanding.

Few caveats so far unresolved

Institution building is important to promote the technology in the hinterland. A bottom-up approach may help in doing the task effectively. Translation-on the ground realities of achieving a broad vision should be a motive of any profit-seeking firms. On the other hand, adoption of technology is influenced by a number of factors, namely geopolitical processes, proximity of institutions, market linkages, and internal beliefs of the target groups in the rural areas (Maitra, 2010). Hence, awareness, usage, readiness, and adaptation are few key determinants that ultimately decide the success (failure) rate of the information technology for any business in the rural proximity. It is not for only information technology but also for other technologies which increases the operational efficiency in business. When we talk about technology and its adoption, an eye browsing question regarding the acceptance of technology by rural users remains unanswered. As rural people are accustomed to a unique socio-cultural system, technology which suits their system, language and traditional aspects would readily be accepted. Hence, unionizing rural business and technology help to unearth a set of challenges to the technocrats or technology developers.{t}

Mr. Debashish and Mr. Kushankar are currently third and fourth year doctoral students at Institute of Rural Management. With copious amounts of work experience in their respective fields, a common passion for ‘finance’ binds them together. Mr. Kushankar is also a recipient of RBI Unit Chair Fellowship in the area of Rural Economics and National Resource Management.