Global economies to perform better: IMF
Washington: In its latest World Economic Outlook the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the global economy will expand by 4.6 per cent this year, compared to 3.9 per cent in 2003 and for 2005, it projects a global output of 4.4 per cent.

China, it says would grow by 8.5 per cent this year while Japan has been projected to grow 3.4 per cent this year. The IMF has also downgraded its forecast for a number of countries in Europe, saying that the euro will see just 1.7 per cent growth this year.
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Outsourcing trends in Biotech and Pharmaceuticals
Larchmont, USA: According to the April 15 issue of GEN (Genetic Engineering News) a number of industry observers support the movement of R&D in the biotechnology sector offshore, where scientists receive wages that are a fraction of what their counterparts receive in the U.S. According to GEN, McKinsey and Co. expects off shoring to grow 30-40 per cent over the next five years.

According to the report the U.S. companies are looking at, and in some cases, actually moving manufacturing and clinical trials overseas to sites such as India, China, Singapore, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The report says that Ireland, India, and Singapore are attracting big biotech dollars. India, Eastern Europe, and Israel are also becoming popular sites for U.S.-based CROs to conduct drug trials, and new companies are also being established in India and Israel to conduct trials.
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Spansion sampling second-generation MirrorBit technology
Sunnyvale, USA: Spansion has announced that it is supplying an initial group of customers with hundreds of engineering samples based on second-generation, 110-nanometer MirrorBit technology. These stand alone and stacked multi-chip (MCP) samples enable AMD and Fujitsu customers to integrate this technology into designs targeted for production in the third quarter.
Optimized for 1.8-volt wireless designs, second-generation MirrorBit technology enables feature-rich products with simultaneous read-write operation, a high-throughput burst-mode interface, Advanced Sector Protection security features and extremely low energy consumption.

Spansion says that MirrorBit technology, which was only a specification in 2001, required just three years and two generations of development to surpass what competing MLC floating-gate solutions have achieved in seven years and four generations. As a result, manufacturers are replacing single- and multi-level cell floating-gate technology in cutting-edge mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras, servers, television set-top boxes, printers, networking and telecom equipment, game systems and navigation devices.
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IIJ Security Standard: Enhanced firewall service
Tokyo: Internet Initiative Japan Inc., one of Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions providers, has announced that the company will enhance IIJ Security Standard, its standard managed firewall service that is targeted to the enterprise market, in June, 2004. The service will support additional features such as 'hot-standby' that enables immediate switching to the stand-by appliance in the event of a failure. The service will be especially vital for environments where a high level of reliability is required at all times, such as in data centres.

IIJ Security Standard is a managed service that provides the latest in security countermeasures, including firewall configuration, monitoring, reporting, and equipment rental. When used with IIJ's Internet connectivity services, IIJ Security Standard is a powerful network security management tool that allows customers to call only one vendor for a quick response in the event of a failure. With this service, customers can outsource the hassle of operating firewalls for a fixed monthly fee. Time-consuming problems pertaining to equipment maintenance, system failures, and reconfigurations due to security policy changes are easily avoided with IIJ Security Standard.

IIJ currently provides its five managed security services to over 1,200 corporate customers. With the growing concern about attacks on corporate networks and other security risks, building stronger network infrastructure and security measures are an important issue for all companies.
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