Infy salaries not comparable     
June 09, 2008
Source:  TNN

“Business heads and CEOs typically have 30%-40 per cent of the total gross compensation as the variable component. In this case (TCS), the variable component may have been higher because their performance may have been evaluated as above target or higher than ‘on-target’,” Stanton Chase MD R Suresh said. 

He said a comparison with Infosys Technologies on the remuneration would be inaccurate because CEO-level executives in Infosys were also shareholders of the company, earning significant dividend income. 

For the year ended March 2008, TCS showed growth of 22.7% in revenues to Rs 22,861.4 crore and 21.5% growth in net income to Rs 5,019.1 crore. Its first quarter growth was the highest at 43%, followed by growth of 36% in the second quarter and growth of 29% and 19% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. The growth was least in the fourth quarter when the effect of the slowdown in the US economy was most visible.

SAP tools for Nitesh Estates     
June 09 , 2008 
SOURCE: Business Line 

SAP has announced its association with Nitesh Estates to accomplish a 360-degree automation level. Ms Carol Tait, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Nitesh Estates, said, "Our priority is developing high quality projects which can be benchmarked with the global best. A flexible, adaptive and open IT architecture was a fundamental requirement to achieve this goal. 

SAP is the partner of choice as it integrates the best product platform with knowledge and proven references in the EC&O sector. By implementing SAP solutions, we are confident that we will deliver on our value proposition to our stakeholders." Mr Ranjan Das, President & CEO, SAP Indian Subcontinent, said, "While real estate in India has seen an unprecedented growth, the sector is maturing at a healthy pace. In order to differentiate, Nitesh Estates chose to partner with SAP to innovate and adopt an IT Platform that offers greater business agility, efficiency and insight. "

Microsoft India to expand SMS services     
June 09, 2008 
SOURCE: TNN

HYDERABAD: Microsoft India is planning to expand its short messaging service (SMS) search services in India. The company is in talks with various mobile service operators including CDMA player Reliance Communications for possible tie-ups. 

This will help the company reach out to the large mobile subscriber base in the country. It will soon add advertisements as a new option on its mobile SMS search. 

“Currently, we have partnered with Vodafone to offer SMS search services in the country. It is available to 45 million Vodafone users. Our aim is to expand this. Soon, the service is expected to be available to users of the other four major operators in the country,’’ said Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) general manager (windows live platform & services) Gurpreet S Pall. 

Developed at MSIDC, Hyderabad, SMS search services help users type a query on their mobile and send it to a number. In turn, the users will receive search results just like that of Internet-enabled mobiles. 

“This is part of our Live Search platform based on WAP-enabled mobiles. However, unlike WAP-based platform, SMS services will help reach out to a large number of mobile users who do not have high-end handsets,” said Pall. 

Microsoft had launched Live Search services on mobile in India early last year. WAP technology enables access to the Internet from a mobile phone. 

With the SMS search, users can search content related to ring tones, wallpapers, images or local information on restaurants and shops. Microsoft has also tied up with yellow page providers- Infomedia and Indiacom for local data and content. 

“We use our technology to covert that content into search data so that users can access it on their mobile. Currently, content for search is available in 21 cities in India including Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata,” he said. 

With Microsoft planning to add advertisement options to SMS search, users will soon be able to access more information on mobile like on the Internet. 

Microsoft India will have a revenue sharing arrangement with service providers for the technology. However, the company was not ready to reveal the financial details of the agreement. 

There are an estimated 280 million mobile subscribers in the country and 5 million will be added every month. The new service will help Microsoft tap the huge potential market. Currently, Vodafone users pay 30 paise per sms and Vodafone receives about 50,000 queries a day from users. Similarly, Microsoft’s rival Google has partnered with Airtel to offer search services on mobile. 

“Unlike developed countries, computer penetration in India is very small. For people in developing countries, mobile is a critical tool to communicate and access information. So, MSIDC’s business group for developing technologies for emerging markets is focusing on mobile related applications,” said Pall. 

The group is also on the course to contribute to a couple of patents on the related technology. MSIDC has contributed to 180 patents that Microsoft has filed in the last three years.