Aiyar at OPEC meet today
Vienna: Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will address the OPEC meeting in Vienna today.

In his meeting with his Irani counterpart, he is expected to press Tehran for giving the giant Yadavaran oilfield to India in exchange for New Delhi buying 5 million tonnes of LNG from Iran.

He is also expected to discuss with Qatar the possibility of getting more liquefied natural gas, apart from exploring refinery revamp and oil field licenses with Libya, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Egypt.
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IA to lease aircraft and open new routes in SE and ME Asia
New Delhi: Indian Airlines has decided to induct nine wide-bodied aircraft to expand its international operations, including opening new routes to South East Asia and the Middle East.

The IA Board has also given its nod for replacement of three existing Airbus A300. This induction is planned in the winter schedule effective from November 2005.

The technical committee of the airlines has recommended that one type of aircraft of the Boeing family and one from the Airbus family may be considered for dry leasing by IA through a global tender.

These aircraft would be used for upgrading services on current international operations of IA as well as for opening new routes to South East Asia and the Middle East.
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Report: R&D outsourcing and the India edge
Dublin, Ireland: Research and Markets has announced the addition of R&D Outsourcing - The India Edge: Key Insights and Success Factors to their offering.

Outsourcing of services has considerably helped India's image as a business destination. The availability of English speaking, low-wage, skilled labor, are the most often cited reasons. India is now well on the road to becoming the world's favorite destination for outsourcing. But a low cost advantage does not spell sustainability. Moving away from call-centers and other low-end services, firms are now beginning to exploit the intellectual calibre that is available in India. Evidence of high-end outsourcing is evident from the large number (over 150) established R&D outsourcing centers in India.

In India, R&D outsourcing existed even before 'outsourcing' became a fad. The R&D story dates back to 1985-86 when Texas Instruments was the first to set up a center in Bangalore. GE and Intel soon followed suit, as did other global technology and telecom companies like Cisco, Microsoft and Motorola. The trend gained strength as, not just large, but medium, small and even start-ups set up research bases in India. The R&D outsourcing market for IT in India is estimated to grow more than $8 billion by 2010 from $1.3 billion in 2003, at a CAGR of 30%.

Outsourcing models for R&D vary, from captive to third party to contract assignments. The pioneers of R&D outsourcing phenomenon were from the information technology vertical. R&D centers in the telecom sector came next, and automobiles and pharma are the emerging verticals.

The factors driving the increasing momentum of R&D off-shoring/outsourcing industry are: Availability of highly skilled manpower, Cost-effectiveness, Proximity to fast-growing Asian markets, Benefit of follow-the-sun schedules and Information security solutions.

The inhibitors are: Inadequate infrastructure, Security and intellectual property laws, Quality of higher education, Political risk

In this study of successful R&D establishments, the success stories found were built on a well-defined set of success factors enumerated below: Selection of key person to run the R&D operations, champions of the R&D set up, Human Resource management, strong quality systems, integration and communication, cultural issues, affiliation with educational institutions/ universities, clear roadmap and early successes.

This report looks at various aspects of R&D outsourcing industry in India, with special focus on the R&D outsourcing scenario in the IT, Telecom, Auto, Research and Pharmaceuticals sectors. Estimates for R&D outsourcing (offshoring) in India, with forecasts till 2007 for the IT, telecom and pharmaceutical sectors, are also provided.

The report examines the key drivers and inhibitors impacting the growth of R&D outsourcing, prospects for growth and key success factors. Success stories of some of the major companies like Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Cisco and GE, who have set up large R&D centers in India, are also provided.

The report is based on secondary data as well as extensive interviews with key people at the Indian R&D centers, to understand reasons for success/failure and other attributes of the successful companies.

This report will help companies setting up offshore R&D centers understand the key success factors; or what they need to do to make their offshoring efforts successful - from selection of key people, cultural issues, location, links with educational institutions, support from parent company, dos and don'ts.

Companies mentioned in this report include: Texas Instruments, Cisco, Microsoft, Motorola, GE, Intel, Sun Microsystems, SAP, Agilent, VisualSoft, SaintLife, Siemens, GM, Hewlett Packard, IBM, i2 Technologies, Philips, BMC Software, Computer Associates, Oracle, Fibcom, Adobe, Baan, Yahoo, Google, Intersil, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Qualcomm, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Avesthagen, Biocon, Shasun, Innovasynth Technologies, Delphi, Daimler Chrysler
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Email filters: mycomPRO and mailMAX II add new features
Cincinnati, USA: Mycom Group, Inc., a technology products, managed services, and software development company, has announced that new features are being added to the mycomPRO mailMAX II email firewall filtering system which will enable administrators to more effectively and easily manage and control their organizations blockage of unwanted viruses and spam.

According to the company, the percentage of junk mail glutting companies' servers and wasting employee's time continues to increase. Mycom filters about 1,000,000 emails a day for companies and organizations throughout North America. Last March, 71 per cent were spam. In August, 84 per cent were stopped as spam, with about 2 percent stopped for containing viruses.

The mailMAX email firewall filtering system scans both inbound and outbound email checking for viruses, harassing or inappropriate (pornographic) content, pictures, key words, attachment types, and message size.

mailMAX provides a powerful tool kit to block spam. Filtering is based on a combination of heuristic analysis, DNS check, blocking lists, and custom text review. The configuration can be fine tuned to fit the nature of an organization's email traffic as well as business requirements.

The mailMAX management tools operate like a network directory. This enables a customer to implement email policies for an entire organization, but also modify the general rules for certain groups, or even individuals, as appropriate.

The new, more powerful, spam and virus filtering service, built by Mycom, operates on a highly secure Linux cluster. Reporting tools provide real-time information on e-mail traffic. The system automatically sends summary notifications of stopped messages to the network administrator or users.

The Mycom Group, Inc. is a technology solutions and managed services provider to businesses and organizations throughout North America. It markets a wide range of software, hardware, enterprise solutions and technology services. Mycom develops and markets new software applications and services using the mycomPRO brand name. The company's technical and communications services include email management, technology security, and networking; ISP and co-location; design, online and classroom training and instructional design; communications services for businesses; and technical marketing and documentation services. Mycom is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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