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Microsoft Interface | January - March 2010 1

C O N T E N T S

Cover featureRiding the next wave of Innovation as the world begins to exit the economic downturn, organizations are looking to enhance their relevance and emerge as stronger players in the market. embracing innovations through relevant investments in It and r&D could be the winning mantra.

teCh trenDsInnovation underlies Microsoft’s New product portfolio a closer look at how the latest software offerings from Microsoft, including Windows 7, Windows server and Bing, are designed to drive productivity and enable companies to move towards the New Efficiency paradigm.

Q&aBIAL: Enhancing Efficiency with Windows 7 the ICt head of BIaL, India’s latest world-class airport, s. francis rajan talks about deploying Windows 7 at the Bengaluru International airport and the productivity and security benefits the organization is realizing.

Case stuDIesInclusive Innovation It has the power to catalyse “inclusive growth.” this section looks at two such innovations by Microsoft India - one with the the potential to help India preserve its rich heritage, and the other, which is maximizing computer education opportunities for Indian children.

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2 Microsoft Interface | January - March 2010

Friends,

Innovation is an important pillar for the growth of any economy. Progressive nations are those that have provided the right environment to spur creativity among the stakeholders within their eco-systems and it is this pioneering work that has transformed the lives of citizens.

This spirit of innovation is all pervasive in Microsoft as well. The company has always believed in thinking out-of-the-box and in the power of doing things differently.

Our issue of Interface is dedicated to innovation and focuses on the initiatives that Microsoft has taken to bring the freshest technology first to its customers.

In Focus, our key feature, explores the importance of innovation for 21st century organizations and the investments that companies are making in research and development. The article also spotlights the product innovations that Microsoft has brought to the market in 2009 and the software solutions it plans to unveil in 2010.

In Tech Trends, we examine Microsoft’s 2009 showcase in greater detail - from Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to Bing; from Project Natal to Exchange 2010. Interface highlights the key features of these offerings and the benefits they bring to our customers.

Microsoft users have been the company’s most valued critics and we constantly use their feedback to build better, more innovative solutions. This time around, we have a well-known early adopter in Bangalore, talking about his experience with Windows 7 and the impact it has had on the company’s employee productivity and efficiency.

The Case Studies section in Interface also reflects the role that Microsoft’s solutions are playing to transform the experience of users, especially the people of India.

Through this issue, we acquaint you with the "Innovation Revolution" taking place within Microsoft globally. Hope you enjoy the articles that follow.

Gauri Arora Editor [email protected]

Celebrating the Spirit of Innovation

C H A I R M A N ’ S M E S S A G E


Friends,

The World Economic Forum India Summit 2009 held in November made some very crucial observations about the importance of innovation for the Indian industry. Leaders at the Forum spoke about India’s competitive advantage in creating low-cost innovations for emerging markets. One common thought echoed by all was the need for India to leverage ICT innovation to help in the upliftment of the underprivileged sections of society and ensure more balanced, inclusive growth.

In his address, well-known management guru C.K. Prahalad also spoke about how India needs to innovate to create solutions that the market demands, at the prices it can afford. This, he said, was key for enterprises wanting to improve their global competitiveness and at the same time deliver benefits to the underserved in India.

Take the instance of Cloud Computing, one of the most talked about global innovations of the 21st century. The Cloud promises much to Indian organizations as well, enabling them to access online computing power without having to invest in expensive in-house infrastructure and resources. In a market where IT adoption has been slow, Cloud Computing can be the perfect solution for cash-strapped companies. The benefits of the Cloud can be enjoyed across industry sectors, including education, microfinance and healthcare, where it can help cut data processing costs.

Apart from leveraging innovation, India needs to drive innovation. The country not only has a large number of technology companies investing in R&D (to produce unique products and services), it also has the critical talent pool and the capital, to become a creative center for new knowledge and innovation.

At the same time, it is not only about building high-tech solutions. Nothing in India is significant unless it has scale. A billion people matter and we consistently need new benchmarks and templates to make a significant impact. Therefore, innovation will need to move out from the centre to the edge. There will be decentralization of organizations and more and more companies will need to operate as innovation hubs.

At a broader level, India must focus on how it can create an environment that is favorable for innovation. Innovation in a certain sense is intrinsic to India and Indians. Our ingenuity, when it comes to finding a solution, is virtually unmatched. Therefore, the Government, industry and all other stakeholders must catalyze innovation to create more jobs and make the ecosystem more future-ready.

This issue of Interface is dedicated to Innovation and its growing significance in the emerging world. We hope you will find it interesting and insightful.

Ravi Venkatesan Chairman, Microsoft India

Creating an Innovation hub in India

C O V E R S T O R YC O V E R S T O R Y



Time and again, innovation has proved itself as the primary driver of growth and development for society. This has been particularly visible during the two most important phases of mankind’s history - the industrial revolution and the more recent IT transformation.

The industrial and digital revolutions - which transformed the world - would not have taken place had individuals, organizations and nations not decided to work on fresh ideas and find novel, pioneering solutions to existing problems.

Global economic depressions have also been times when companies have

chosen to take the unbeaten path. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), was among the companies that pioneered television, launched around the end of the Great Depression. The result was that alongside CBS, RCA too became a household name. It was able to ride on its new invention during the upswing, after the end of the economic malaise.

Similarly, other organizations too excelled during the recession by quickly making adjustments to their cost base, finding ways to continue investing in the future, and inventing new products while they were actually in the slowdown.

As the world begins to exit the economic

downturn, organizations are looking at ways in

which they can enhance their relevance and emerge as stronger

players in the market. In this scenario, many are embracing innovation

and making it their winning mantra.

C O V E R S T O R YC O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R YC O V E R S T O R Y


Today, when the world is slowly coming out of an economic downturn, innovation, especially IT innovation, is assuming the same importance.

Investing in R&D to keep innovation on a high Recent research also seems to support this argument. According to market analysts, despite the drop in global R&D spend during 2008, the numbers are expected to be more positive in 2010. The latest joint Battelle/R&D Magazine funding forecast, released in December expects global R&D spending to reach USD 1,140 billion by the end of 2009, 3.2 percent higher than in 2008.

Interestingly, continued expansion of R&D in Asia, is also stated to be fuelling much of the growth in worldwide R&D spending. The Battelle/R&D Magazine report says: “India is becoming a top player in the biopharm, automotive, IT/software, and IT-enabled services segments. China’s strength is built upon large scale/low cost manufacturing capabilities while India adds value to its customers’ products with large scale/low cost intellectual property.” Both countries continue to churn out more engineers and technical specialists than their Western counterparts.

The Indian government, (according to its Ministry of Science and Technology), invested about 0.8 percent of GDP in R&D during the fiscal year ending in March 2005. Since then, for 2006, 2007 and 2008 each, India’s national budget increased the amount going toward education by 20 percent. The government has also taken a number of steps to “rejuvenate and promote” the country’s science research.

As the next wealth creation and employment generation opportunity will come from science, the government is in fact planning to increase its expenditure on R&D from one percent of GDP to 2 percent.

The Indian PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh

has termed the current decade as the decade of technology innovation. The Government of India is looking to focus its Research and Development efforts in the current times on translating lab research into product and process innovations that benefit the masses and solve the problems of the people.

The IT revolution sweeping over India for the past two decades is the biggest innovation to touch the country and its people. Millions have already been impacted and going forward, many more will savor its benefits.

Innovation in its DNA Recognizing that innovation is the lifeblood of the IT industry, Microsoft has constantly focused on creative thinking to find solutions for the challenges businesses face today. Innovation is intrinsic to Microsoft, a part of the company’s culture and DNA.

Over the past two years, despite the tough economic conditions, Microsoft has not lost sight sight of innovation and sustained its investment in R&D. When the entire technology fraternity was cutting back on budgets in these areas, Microsoft went ahead and increased its R&D spend to USD 9.5 billion.

Innovative solutions for a changing world Microsoft’s investment in R&D and visionary innovation, particularly in the 2008-09 period, has enabled the company to deliver the new efficiency customers have required during the downturn.

The company has taken innovation to new heights, launching a series of new-age products aimed at enhancing value for its customers and giving them the advantage of technology that is exciting, great in design, reliable and easy-to-use.

One of the key highlights of 2009 was the launch of Bing in June 2009 (see section on Tech Trends). Bing, the company’s new search engine has

India is becoming a top player in the biopharm, automotive, IT/software, and IT-enabled services segments... India adds value to its customers’ products with large scale/low costintellectual property.Battelle/R&D Magazine report




changed the paradigm for search. Termed “the decision engine”, it helps find and organize answers beyond links so customers can make faster, more informed decisions.

The other exciting product launch was that of Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 7, in October 2009. Based on a tremendous amount of market research, testing and user feedback, Windows 7 delivers on a very simple promise “Your PC, Simplified”. Windows 7 saw the fastest adoption of any OS in its first two months, beating the record of its much loved predecessor, Windows XP.

This was followed by Microsoft’s new efficiency suite including Exchange 2010 and Windows Server R2. Exchange Server 2010 has come at a time when organizations need their communications tools to be cost-effective and flexible.

Windows Server 2008 R2, expands existing technology and adds new features to enable organizations to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. New virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center. Powerful tools such as Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7.5, updated Server Manager and Hyper-V platforms and Windows PowerShell version 2.0 combine to give customers greater control, increased efficiency, and the ability to react to front-line business needs faster than ever before.

Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer believes that this level of product innovation has become imperative as the traditional models of computing are maturing fast. “Computing in its current form is getting supported by newer forms and may actually get replaced by these new forms of computing in the near future. Microsoft has a dream role to play in the future of computing,” he asserts.

According to Mundie, the process of creating new technologies warrants significant investment to be made over a period of time. “It takes 10-15 years to establish any particular technology platform. If Microsoft wants to continue to be relevant, then we must follow the cycle of renewal and reinvention of technology,” he states.

The current successful offerings from Microsoft - the Windows operating system, the Office suite, Gaming devices - have therefore seen significant investments from the very early stages. Microsoft is continuing the same approach with key offerings such as Live Mesh, Silverlight and the Surface technology and building on them.

Foraying into the Cloud With technology evolving and the way customers consume technology changing, Microsoft is aiming to play the same role on the Internet that it plays today on the desktop-that of providing its own applications as well as the underlying plumbing and tools that developers use to build their products. In 2009, Microsoft forged ahead with its cloud computing initiative and today, is the only company that can offer both enterprises and consumers the platform, infrastructure and Software + Services.

The term Cloud, incidentally, refers to the Internet, and cloud computing to the delivery of common business applications online, through a web browser. In the case of cloud computing, users access applications from their computers and devices, while the software and data are stored on servers in remotely located data centers. Microsoft’s Software + Services strategy takes into account the fact that in the emerging world, organizations will move beyond Software-as-a-Service to include on-premise server and client-side software assets that leverage the best of hosted and offline software.

The next phase of Microsoft’s software journey, the space where it is strongly

Microsoft is the only company today that offers

both enterprises and consumers the platform,

infrastructure and Software + Services in the Cloud.

C O V E R S T O R YC O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R YC O V E R S T O R Y


Ushering in the futuristic natural user interface The real differentiator for Microsoft going forward, however, Mundie comments, will be killer applications centered around the natural user interface (NUI) that will create new computing experiences for the users.

This fundamental new model of how people interact with technology, is likely to make it more ubiquitous and easy-to-use. Computers will anticipate what people want, evolving into personal assistants. There is going to be a lot of focus on human gestures, speech recognition, and even three dimensional displays in near-future computing. The computer will become more expressive as well as responsive to the needs of users.

Over the course of 2009, Mundie has been addressing audiences across the world, sharing with them Microsoft’s vision for technology.

A high point of his various presentations for instance, is a next generation computer that docks and undocks from a transparent glass display, and not only supports pen and voice inputs, but also touches, gestures and eye-tracking to interact with the information at hand. Microsoft believes that natural user interfaces such as voice and touch will become mainstream in the coming years.

According to Mundie, the cloud and the client are one platform, not two. In the near future, computing will be everywhere—in the car, on the TV, in the game console—any device with an electrical connection will be used for computing. New data models are emerging fast, and the ability to have metadata and build applications around it is changing the way people interact with the computer. The traditional GUI model of typing, pointing, and clicking is in for a big change. People will interact with the computer as if it was another person. That is the ultimate goal of the NUI concepts.

positioning itself, is this Software + Services domain, which represents a rich combination of Online (cloud services) and on premise software. The Software + Services model will be driven by affordability and will provide customers with a new world of information access at anytime, anywhere and on any device.

Microsoft will also soon make available its Windows Azure platform, where customers will be able to run applications and store data on Internet-accessible machines owned by the company. Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can use Windows Azure to build business oriented, “Software as a Service” applications.

Under this Software + Services strategy, the company also launched Microsoft Online Services in India in November, 2009. It is now providing SMBs and enterprise customers access to its popular e-mail, collaboration, conferencing and productivity capabilities online at prices starting at USD 2 per user per month.

Going forward, consumers will only have to find what component is best solved in the shared facility and what is best computed locally. This will create a new computing platform which will allow companies to resolve a range of problems in areas such as education and healthcare that have eluded the world until now.

The opportunities for India to be a part of this exciting experience too are immense: a majority of small businesses, manufacturing units, home offices and the like have no legacy systems that would make shifting to a different model a challenging task. Microsoft has a plethora of independent software vendors and developers who can devote their talent to creating services for the cloud. And the benefit to customers is obvious. They get affordable access to computing to enhance productivity and competitiveness.

(In India), a majority of small businesses, manufacturing units, home offices and the like have no legacy systems that would make shifting to a different model a challenging task.



And arriving soon in 2010, is the next wave of Microsoft Office and related products. Designed to deliver a unified experience across the PC, phone and browser, this wave includes Microsoft Exchange 2010, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010. Microsoft Office 2010, the new, upgraded personal and professional productivity software, will offer users rich and powerful ways to deliver their best work - at work, home or school - on their computer, from a Windows Mobile-based Smartphone or via a Web browser. They can quickly and creatively present their ideas using enhanced and easy-to-use tools, customizable templates, color schemes, and photo-editing capabilities. With a new co-authoring experience, they can work with people from different locations at the same time. And by offering users more ways to access their files from almost anywhere, Office 2010 puts them in control of getting things done according to schedule.

With Office 2010, users get powerful data insights and visualization, access their work across devices and platforms, deliver more compelling presentations and create sophisticated business process forms with little or no code.

BuilDing inDia into an innovation huB Apart from viewing India as a major consumer of its technologies, Microsoft is also leveraging the country’s strengths (especially its skilled manpower), to provide Research and Development support to the global business. It is doing so through its two pillars—Microsoft Research India and the Microsoft India Development Center.

Set up in Bangalore, Microsoft Research India is engaged in cutting-edge basic and applied research in multiple fields in computing, information technology, and related areas. In addition to innovating and contributing key technologies to Microsoft products, Microsoft Research India collaborates with a wide range of scientific and academic institutions to advance the state-of-the-art in computing research in India.

The India Development Center, a 54-acre facility in Hyderabad meanwhile was set up over a decade ago to innovate and incubate technologies and products that would drive growth and empower the next billion customers in emerging markets.

There are several ways in which the Microsoft Research India and Microsoft India Development Center are contributing to product development. They are creating raw technology for product groups, that handle the implementation. Secondly, they are designing new features for products. At the same time, the facilities are also involved in developing new products, based on an emerging market opportunity or a technological way to move forward. Finally, they are developing products for new businesses being launched by the company.

Another breakthrough product that Microsoft will deliver in 2010 will be Natal. a special offering that will allows users to play games controlled by body movements and speech. (See Tech Trends, Page 16).

Innovating to “Go Green” A significant focus of Microsoft’s future innovations is also on “greening the environment.” Microsoft envisions a clean energy ecosystem where IT plays a key role. The company is concentrating on three key areas as part of its green tech initiatives:

Empowering people and `organizations with software tools that help increase energy efficiencyAccelerating innovation and `deployment of clean energy sources through R&D Providing decision makers with `tools to better predict the impact of climate change

Ideal conditions for an era of innovation and growth It is clear therefore, that despite the challenges posed by the global economic reset, there is optimism about the long-term opportunities that lie ahead. There are encouraging signs that growth may resume in many parts of the world during the course of this year. The world is also entering a period of technology-driven transformation that will see a surge in productivity and a flowering of innovation.

This new efficiency will lay the foundation for better solutions amd systems that connect people to information, applications, and to other people in new ways. The results will redress old problems and serve as the catalyst for new businesses and even new industries.

Office 2010 helps users express their ideas more

visually and enjoy the familiar Microsoft Office experience on the web.

T E C H T R E N D ST E C H T R E N D S


This wave of cutting-edge products has been driven by Microsoft’s growing awareness of an emerging, “New Normal.” Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corp. defines this “new normal” as the “New Efficiency,” a balance between productivity and innovation.

The fact is, after years of economic expansion, fuelled by unrealistic rates of consumption and unsustainable levels of private debt, the global economy has reset at a lower baseline level of activity. Today, people are borrowing less, saving more, and spending with much greater caution. This “new normal” is expected to stay with the world in times to come.

According to Ballmer, it is critical to examine this behavior, as it requires a new kind of efficiency built on technology improvements that will spur businesses and organizations to realize cost savings, improve productivity and drive innovation.

Information technology, in fact, is expected to be the key enabler in meeting the demand of the New Efficiency. IT will help organizations operate more productively, more effectively, and more strategically as they respond to the “new normal” by moving towards the New Efficiency, Ballmer says.

The ongoing “Innovation Revolution” within Microsoft has greatly energized the company over the last few years. 2009 was the year of big product roll-outs for the company.

Innovation underlies Microsoft’s “New” Product Portfolio

Project NATAL




Microsoft announced the availability of Windows 7 in October 2009 - a feature-rich enhancement of its earlier version. The release was a result of close collaboration between Microsoft and millions of customers, developers and users who participated in the company’s testing programs and provided vital feedback about its capabilities and the improvements they wanted to see.

In order to elicit the views of these various IT professionals, Microsoft had undertaken a Quantitative Research, for which it engaged extensively with almost 4,000 customers in developing and emerging markets. The research surfaced the top areas of concern: Risk Management, Compliance and Mobility. Its key findings included the following:

56 percent of respondents said `they needed help protecting corporate data on laptops. This validated the company’s decision to include BitLocker in Windows 7 Enterprise, and to extend its capabilities to the portable hard drives that could be just as dangerous and more loosely monitored than laptops. 61 percent expressed a deep `concern about ensuring their users installed and used only authorized applications (for fear of security breaches from unauthorized applications). This helped prioritize Microsoft’s plans for AppLocker. 49 percent wanted to make it `easier for remote workers to access corporate resources, which concretized Microsoft’s plans to provide Direct Access capabilities.

The result was that when people first saw the beta version of Windows 7 in January, 2009, they loved it. They loved the way it simplified their lives with easier navigation, faster start and shut down, enhanced security, better battery life, fewer alerts, etc.

Starting April 30, 2009, the company made available Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) for consumers, the next step in the product’s journey. This represented a huge milestone in the final delivery for Windows 7, indicating that the OS had entered the final phases of development. Windows 7 RC was a sign that the product was ready for testing by thousands of partners, who could also now develop new applications, device drivers, and services on the platform - applications that would take advantage of its features. The Windows 7 RC enabled IT pros to evaluate the new OS and put it through the paces.

Windows 7 RTM (Release to Manufacture) was made available in early August, 2009. This was the final version, which was provided to global customers who had Volume Licensing agreements with Microsoft.

Windows 7, released to public on October 22 (General Availability), incorporated feedback from millions of customers and partners from around the world who had installed and used the Beta versions.

T E C H T R E N D ST E C H T R E N D S T E C H T R E N D ST E C H T R E N D S


Windows 7 is here With Windows 7, customers will have access to the broadest array of software and hardware options the industry has to offer. Further, it comes with fun new features such as HomeGroup, Play-To, Aero Shake, Snap, Peek, Jump Lists, Device Stage and a completely redesigned Windows Taskbar that make PCs faster, smarter and more secure.

Some of the key Windows 7 benefits include the following:

Making everyday tasks faster ànd easier: Windows 7 simplifies the things people do every day on their PCs with a more streamlined and intuitive design. It provides one-click access to applications and files, so users spend less time looking for things and more time using them. This ease of access extends across multiple PCs and devices. Working the way consumers `want: In Windows 7, Microsoft has improved what customers care about most—operating system basics. It will be faster for consumers to start or shut down their Windows 7 PCs. Additional improvements to reliability, increased battery life and fewer alerts will allow customers to spend more time doing the things they want to do, without the operating system getting in their way. Offering a better entertainment èxperience: Consumers today have access to more digital media than ever including DVDs, digital music and broadband TV and the PC is increasingly becoming the hub of the consumer’s electronic experiences. Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center in Windows 7 feature built-in support for more media formats enabling people to use their PCs to play more media content and sync to a broader range of devices. Remote Media Streaming enables highly secure, remote Internet access to home-based digital media libraries from another Windows 7-based PC outside the home.

New to the Windows 7 are advancements such as Windows Touch, Play To, HomeGroup, Remote Media Streaming and Windows XP Mode (beta) among others.

Remote Media Streaming: ` Enables highly secure, remote Internet access to home-based digital media libraries from another Windows 7-based PC outside the home. HomeGroup: ` Makes it easy to connect PCs running Windows 7 and manage devices on the home network. Refined navigation: ` Enables easier navigation owing to several improvements in the Windows taskbar, JumpLists and search.Multi-Touch: ` Controls the computer through a touch-enabled screen or monitor—is a core Windows 7 user experience.Windows XP Mode: ` Utilizes Windows Virtual PC, Windows XP Mode allowing small and medium business users of Windows 7 to run many Windows XP productivity applications, launched right from the Windows 7 desktop. DirectAccess: ` Enables IT managers to provide the mobile user with reliable and secure access to the corporate network without having to initiate a VPN connection. BranchCache: ` Enables IT pros to decrease the time branch office users spend waiting to download files from remote servers by caching the previously accessed content locally in a branch’s networkBitLocker™ and Bitlocker To `Go™ Drive Encryption: Ensures that sensitive data is protected across PCs and removable storage devices.

Throughout the Windows 7 development process, Microsoft has been committed to creating an OS that is designed for the way people actually work. Windows 7 has an exciting and powerful offering for its business customers.

With WindoWs 7…Wipro expects IT staff efficiency `gains of at least 20 percent due to Windows 7 Ablaze Infosys is saving more than `4,000 IT hours annuallyCompu Solutions is saving more `than 1,000 hours annuallySystech Services has cut Help Desk `time by 20 percent Idicon Space Designs has improved `mobility for users and increased business efficiencyAPRA Engineering Services has `realized 150 hours in annual productivity gainsGalaxy Hotel saves 65 hours ànnually on Help DeskBIAL has saved 25 percent of its `costs on third-party encryption and VPN software.Manufacturing company Greenply ìmproves security, saves power, and expects to reduce costs by 5 to 15 percentMicroland expects enormous `savings after completing the Windows 7 deployment across all company locations by mid-2010




Achieving the benefits of the New Efficiency today

At intel Corporation, Windows 7 is pro-viding improved performance, greater

application responsiveness, and a better platform for mobile workers.

Ford is taking advantage of Exchange 2010 and Windows 7 to streamline communications, improve decision

making, and boost productivity.Continental Airlines expects to save

more than USD 1.5 million annually in hardware, software, and operational

costs through the server virtualization capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2

Hyper-V technology.The city of Miami, which has deployed Windows 7, expects to save nearly USD

400,000 a year in reduced security, management, and energy costs.

Rolling out the New Efficiency initiative and Windows 7 in India India remains a major market for Microsoft and the company has been continuously investing in the geography, reaching out to a wide spectrum of customers including individuals, enterprises, the government and PSUs as well as Small and Medium Businesses, with its cutting-edge solutions.

For its New Efficiency initiative too, Microsoft used India as a significant base for product testing. The company therefore launched a very active beta program, encompassing existing and potential customers, as well as partners, to give them a hands-on feel of the new offerings and gauge their response.

Microsoft took on the big, bold goal of getting 777 organizations live on Windows 7. At the time of the launch however, there were over 1000 companies running Windows 7!



Windows Server 2008 R2, the second pillar of Microsoft’s “New Efficiency” strategy, builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new features to enable organizations to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. New virtualization tools, web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center.

From a virtualization standpoint, Microsoft has built its state-of-the-art virtualization technology with a newer version of its Hyper-V hypervisor technology as well as some new features that customers have been asking for, such as Live Migration. This feature, which is included with Windows Server 2008 R2 at no additional charge, lets users move a running workload from one machine to another in milliseconds, with no loss of performance.

On the management front, Windows Server 2008 R2 will be a foundation for datacenter automation. Microsoft has made multiple improvements that give customers the reins to truly manage their servers the way they desire, whether that is locally or remotely, via a graphical user interface (GUI) or from the command line via Windows PowerShell.

Another area of innovation in Windows Server 2008 R2 is the ability to more easily administer and support web applications on a streamlined web platform. Microsoft has integrated Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS) manager extensions to make it simpler to administer local and remote web servers, and added support for ASP.NET and PHP to the Server Core.

And finally, there has been continued focus on scalability. In Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has built in support for up to 256 logical processors, which will allow customers to more fully exploit today’s powerful CPUs, deploying only the features they choose and scaling those solutions to meet their organization’s needs.

Windows Server 2008 R2 also supports more than 64 processors, so customers can take advantage of advancements in hardware. Coupled with SQL Server 2008, this enables an optimum use of hardware to parallelize tasks and boost performance.




The third component in Microsoft’s new tech show-window is Exchange Server 2010, the cornerstone of its Unified Communications strategy. Exchange Server 2010 provides a great e-mail and inbox experience that extends from the PC to the phone to the browser and helps companies archive and protect information efficiently. It also enables organizations to reduce costs by delivering a built-in voice mail solution and providing low-cost storage options.

Exchange Server 2010 can help companies ìmprove performance, scalability, reliability and undertake the following: Lower messaging costs and Total Cost of Òwnership by 50 to 80 percentReduce the complexity and cost of `delivering business continuity up to 80 percentLower the overall storage costs by 50 to 70 `percentUse administrative advances to save time ànd lower operational costs by 15 to 20 percent by reducing the burden on the IT staffCost effectively provide users the `freedom to securely access all of their communications - e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, and more - from virtually any platform, web-browser, or deviceReplace their legacy systems with the ènhanced capabilities of Exchange voice mail and reduce their voice mail costs by 50 percent

With Exchange 2010, customers can achieve new levels of reliability and performance with features that simplify their administration, protect their communication and delight users by meeting their demands for greater mobility. Exchange Server 2010 was designed, developed, and tested with the Microsoft Software-plus-Services strategy at its core. Customers can choose from on-premise deployment with Exchange 2010, a Microsoft-hosted service with Exchange Online, or a seamless mix of both.

EXChAnGE sERVER 2010 Fast Facts



WhAt’s thE BinG thinG?new Look and Feel: Bing offers a new search experience Bing’s new features help users find what they’re looking for, more quickly and easily.

Better Results: What you’re looking for. Found. Bing finds more relevant and focused results, and then displays them in intelligent ways to help users get important information faster.

Richer Experience: innovation that will make search better Bing is a multimedia web search experience, which is expected to evolve and get even better over the coming months.

It’s catchy, it’s zingy and it has captured the world’s imagination. Bing from Microsoft, the company’s search engine, is allowing people to go down the search path yet again, and creating a lot of excitement in the process. People are doing familiar stuff—like looking for images—and acting as though it is happening for the first time. The fact is that users are rediscovering features that have been in search for a while. They are coming in and re-examining search.

Launched on June 3, 2009, Bing (known as Kumo while under development), is a replacement for Microsoft’s Live Search Engine. Right after Microsoft announced the arrival of Bing, there were indications that users were quickly warming up to this new search engine.

According to Net Applications, within hours of launch, Bing had reached a six percent market share. As of November, 2009, Bing had a 10.3 percent share of the US market.

Cool and supercool are some of the expressions that have been used to describe Bing. Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak even went a step further by describing Bing as “astonishing” when he saw a demonstration.

And just how did Bing get its name? The answer is that Microsoft was keen to have a new brand which only represented search. At the same time, it wanted a name which was short and sweet, easy to remember and worked well across the globe.

The feature-rich Bing experience The explosive growth of online content has continued unabated, and Bing was developed as a tool to help people navigate more easily through the information overload that has come to characterize many of today’s search experiences.

Essentially Bing is being positioned by Microsoft as the new decision engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions.

Bing is initially focusing on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

According to Microsoft, Bing is unlike other search engines in that it possesses deep innovation on core search areas, entity extraction and expansion, query intent recognition and document summarization technology.

With Bing, Microsoft has improved its indexing capabilities, enhanced the crawling capabilities and hiked performance to make the engine very fast. Here’s a list of features that Bing offers users, to greatly uplift their search experience:

Continuous: ` If users are searching for images, they can just keep scrolling through. There’s no need to hit next in order to get to the next group of images. The images are continuous. Quick Tabs: ` Works like a table of contents.Instant Answers: ` This provides highly relevant snippets of information (answers) for key verticals.Video: ` The new video experience in Bing includes video previews that show short samples of the full video clip, with audio if available.Twitter Search: ` Microsoft has integrated real-time status updates from Twitter into Bing.




The launch of Project Natal is a pivotal moment that will carry with it a wave of change, the ripples of which will reach far beyond video games.steven spielberg Leading Producer & Director of Hollywood

Microsoft’s “Project Natal” could fundamentally change the way players experience sports games. At EA, our top development teams are experimenting with the goal of delivering a completely fresh take on genres like sports and racing. Peter Moore EA Sports President

Project Natal On June 1, 2009, Microsoft announced the launch of Project Natal, described by Wikipedia as a “controller free gaming and entertainment experience” for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact with the Xbox without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands or presented objects and images.

Xbox 360 has generated widespread enthusiasm from leading video-game publishers for Natal. Developers across the globe have embraced the technology and begun work on titles that will deliver extraordinary entertainment experiences for everyone to enjoy.

Among the elite publishers actively working on games for Project Natal are Activision Blizzard, Bethesda Softworks, CAPCOM, Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, Konami, MTV Games, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ Inc. and Ubisoft. Together, these publishers account for more than 70 percent of third-party software sales for this generation of consoles and most of the world’s most recognized video game franchises.

“Project Natal gives the industry’s creators and storytellers the freedom to dream of new experiences and to tell stories never before possible. The support of these creative partners testifies to the excitement that Project

Natal is generating among the most innovative minds in the industry, and is proof that Xbox 360 not only offers the best games and entertainment today, but will lead with innovation and new ways to have fun in the future,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Corp.

The fact is that Project Natal represents a whole new way to play. Combining an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone running proprietary software, Project Natal enables gamers to play in a natural and inviting fashion, free from the boundaries of a controller through the use of sight, sound and motion.

Publishers, who received development kits from Microsoft in early June, used the Tokyo Game Show opening to voice their excitement about Project Natal. In addition to broad industry support, Microsoft Game Studios is busy at work creating a diverse slate of experiences that will appeal to a wide variety of entertainment interests.

Project Natal is enabling the Studio’s team of developers to create hitherto impossible experiences. Microsoft Game Studios will help lead the way in bringing Project Natal to life.

Microsoft believes Project Natal is the future of gaming which represents a brand new shift in technology. The Project is expected to be unveiled in early 2010.

Project NATAL



Silverlight 3.0 In one of its milestone launches of 2009, Microsoft officially released Silverlight 3 in July, the latest version of its rapidly-evolving media client/rich interactive application development platform.

Silverlight 3, an enhanced version of the previous software, offers customers support for higher quality video and audio. It empowers richer experiences (through new 3D graphics, animation features, hardware accelerated effects and text improvements that enable designers and developers to create next generation Web visuals) and improves rich Internet application productivity.

Some of other benefits of Silverlight 3.0 include enhanced data support, improved performance and out of browser capabilities. The new out of browser experience in Silverlight 3 enables users to place their favorite Silverlight applications directly onto their PCs and Macs, with links on the desktop and start menu - all without the need to download an additional runtime or browser plug-in. Further, the new experience enables Silverlight applications to work whether the computer is connected to the Internet or not - a radical improvement to the traditional Web experience.

Silverlight is also different from other offerings in the market on account of its ability to write .Net code - server-side, middle-tier, and now client side-inside the browser, and getting web-based deployment, which is something other vendors do not offer and which will impact enterprise productivity. That is the promise of Silverlight - that ability to take .Net everywhere.

Surface technology It’s like watching some zany technology in a futuristic movie, where a surface of a table serves as a computer screen and there’s no mouse or any pointer device, but just fingers showing the way.

Microsoft Surface is a revolutionary multi-touch computer that responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects, helping people interact with digital content in a simple and intuitive way. With a large, horizontal user interface, Surface offers a unique gathering place where multiple users can collaboratively and simultaneously interact with data and each other.

For users, Microsoft Surface represents a fundamental change in the way they interact with digital content. They simply have to leave the mouse and keyboard behind. Surface lets them grab digital content with their hands and move information with simple gestures and touches. Surface also sees and interacts with objects placed on the screen, allowing users to move information between devices like mobile phones or cameras. The result is a fun, social and exciting computing experience like consumers have never had before.

Q&A


Why did BIAL feel the need to upgrade its existing software platform—from Windows XP to the latest Windows 7? BIAL had long run the Windows XP operating system but realized that it needed to upgrade the operating system to maintain support from Microsoft and take advantage of the company’s latest innovations. BIAL also wanted stronger operating system security features to protect its data and systems. The company wanted a mechanism to control application usage among employees and required

a seamless mechanism for establishing connectivity to corporate data and resources for employees on the move.

We knew that the advancements in security and management functionality would make a positive difference. What we also wanted was a seamless mechanism for establishing connectivity to corporate data and resources for employees on the move. Additionally, we wanted to boost employee productivity with features that promoted user efficiency.

“BIAL has benefited from the enhanced IT security, reduced IT management

work, and increased employee productivity

that has resulted from the Windows 7

implementation,” S. Francis Rajan,

Head ICT, The Bengaluru

International Airport Ltd. (BIAL)

Bengaluru, the IT capital of India now has a global-class international airport. The Bengaluru International Airport has earned the city the unique distinction of becoming the regional hub for South India. BIAL, the owner and operator of the new Bengaluru International Airport, is committed to establishing the new facility as India’s leading airport in terms of quality and efficiency and setting a benchmark for the future commercial development of Indian airports. In line with this focus, BIAL has been extensively harnessing IT, and in fact was one of the early implementers of Microsoft’s latest software - Windows 7.

In this Q&A, Interface speaks to S. Francis Rajan, Head ICT, BIAL, about why the organization decided to go for Windows 7 and the benefits it is deriving from the deployment.

BIAL: Enhancing Efficiency with Windows 7

Q&A


To lay the foundation for future growth, BIAL wanted to improve IT management, enhance security, and optimize the user experience.

As an early adopter of Windows 7, how did you go about deploying the software within your organization? Was this entire process easy? Windows 7 was deployed in two phases. In the first phase, around 70 Windows XP systems were upgraded to Windows 7.

BIAL took advantage of the new deployment efficiencies in Windows 7, with the LiteTouch Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. This included features such as hard link migration in the User State Migration Tool (USMT), which enabled the IT staff to leave data on a computer while the operating system was being replaced with Windows 7.

How long did the deployment take? The Phase One deployment took approximately 10 days.

In Phase Two, the remaining 300 systems were deployed across a time span of three weeks. The users were able to adapt to the new platform quite comfortably. They were guided by the Helpdesk when they needed assistance, with the use of the interface.

During the planning phase, a list of the required standard desktop applications was prepared. These applications were tested for compatibility with Windows 7. After successful testing, an image was prepared. This image was deployed on all systems using the tools mentioned earlier. Users were told in advance about the deployment, so that their systems could be made available for the installation. After the upgrade, the users confirmed that the data and profile settings were intact. The Helpdesk was trained on Windows 7 troubleshooting so as to take care of day-to-day incidents.

What are some of the features of Windows 7 that you found particularly useful and relevant for BIAL’s complex needs? We found the features or functionality in Windows 7 relevant for BIAL’s needs - the BitLocker drive encryption and BitLocker To Go features; AppLocker; features including Search Federation, to allow users to quickly locate information on their computers and the Snap, Shake, and Peek features which made navigation among multiple documents easier, allowing side-by-side comparison and intuitive window sizing.

How has Windows 7 helped you manage your IT resources better? Overall, we have found the deployment process for Windows 7 to be faster and smoother than that of previous operating systems. BIAL has also benefited from the enhanced IT security, reduced IT management work, and increased employee productivity that has resulted from the Windows 7 implementation.

What has been the impact of Windows 7 on the productivity and efficiency of employees? The company’s employees are more productive as a result of features such as Federated Search and improved screen management capabilities, Jump Lists and the ability to control their own settings. All these features have had a positive impact on their productivity.

What about energy efficiency? How has Windows 7 contributed to that? New power management innovations such as idle resource utilization, trigger start services, enhanced processor power management and device power management have contributed to reduced power consumption.

In terms of security what would you say are the benefits that Windows 7 has provided BIAL? The built in security features of

The company’s employees are more productive as a result

of features such as Federated Search

and improved screen management

capabilities, Jump Lists and the ability

to control their own settings.

Q&A


Windows 7 such as Bit Locker encryption and Bit Locker To Go have enhanced the company’s data protection capabilities by adding an additional layer of security in the form of system and drive encryption without having to invest in third party solutions. The AppLocker has significantly helped IT to control application usage and to prevent unwanted or malicious programs from being installed and executed.

What about the road ahead? It is being said that BIAL will be creating a commercial zone around the airport. Do you see a bigger role for Windows 7 there? It is too early to comment on that. In principle, BIAL would like to create a plug and play environment with standard business applications for users in the Commercial Zone. A case in point is Dubai City, where Microsoft and IBM have partnered to provide services under the SaaS model.

BIAL also has plans to use Multi-touch (a special feature in Windows 7) in a more significant way going forward. Can you elaborate on this? BIAL plans to deploy multimedia touch screen PAX Information and feedback Kiosks from Moveo systems (a Microsoft partner), which will run on Windows 7.

Would you say Windows 7 reflects the focus on Innovation at Microsoft? Over the years, the company has been developing products based on feedback from millions of customers. Has that helped in making the offerings unique and robust? Yes definitely. Especially the additional encryption functionalities introduced in Windows 7 which reflect Microsoft’s vision on data security.

C A S E S T U D Y


Our Case Studies in this issue look at two key facets of Innovation by Microsoft India. One, where

Microsoft is enabling the preservation of India’s rich heritage,

and the second, where we are helping obliterate the digital divide

in education, by taking computer learning to the largest

number of children.

Innovation has always been a major driver at Microsoft India, with the company actively investing in research and development year-on-year, and developing technologies relevant to India and the world. Spearheading Microsoft’s innovation initiatives are Microsoft Research India, its research lab, as well as the MSIDC, the company’s India Development Center.

In this issue, Interface looks at the two key examples of innovation led by Microsoft Research (MSR) India. On the one hand, there is innovation that has the potential to help the country digitally preserve and archive its cultural heritage and monuments and on the other, is innovation that is catalyzing “inclusive growth” in the country.

Our Case Studies spotlight the India Digital Heritage Project, alongside MultiPoint, a unique technology solution that has the potential to obliterate the digital divide in education by taking computer based learning to the largest number of Indian children.

C A S E S T U D Y


Capturing our History with THe IndIa dIgITal HerITage ProjeCT Imagine entering a heritage site in any part of India, walking through it, exploring its nooks and crannies, admiring the architecture, soaking in the carvings, and basically viewing it at close quarters, at just the click of a key and without actually being there!

This unique experience is now within the realms of possibility for Indian citizens thanks to an unusual initiative launched by the Department of Science and Technology and academia, in which Microsoft is playing an active part.

Called the India Digital Heritage Project, the research initiative aims at developing tools and technologies that can help in presenting and preserving the breadth and depth of Indian culture through the novel use of different forms of media. It is also looking to explore the synergistic use of multiple forms of media such as photographs, video and voice to create uniquely compelling 2D and 3D user experiences of Indian heritage for the general public and provide a framework for the Indian research community to work together.

There are three parts to the India Digital Heritage Project: 1. data collection/archiving, which is a community based effort that involves identifying different types of data, sources, standards, schemas etc, as well as creating the necessary technology to enable the storage and processing of the media. 2. research and creation of tools and technologies, which is about identifying and addressing research issues that arise during the course of the project and creating new technologies through innovation.

3. Creation of compelling end user experiences, that exemplify the innovation possible through the concerted efforts of the government, academia and industry.

Being a research project however, the IDH project does not intend to build full scale “systems” or “products.”

The cutting-edge tools developed as part of the project can find application in diverse areas including the capture, analysis, archiving and visualization of the data of national monuments, processing of cultural heritage data, geospatial data processing, and security and surveillance. The expectation is that these will find use in other segments such as movies and animation, as well as robotics in the future. MSR India had earlier created a 3D experience of the Sri Andal temple in Srivilliputtur, Tamil Nadu. The demo innovatively uses the full range of media—photographs, video, audio and text annotations to provide a unique experience to users. People wanting to visit the temple “virtually”, can zoom in and out of the temple and its various aspects, and enjoy the details of color and design. They can amble through the premises of the temple, check out the art on the

India has an enormous cultural heritage, and this project explores how this cultural diversity and depth can be presented and preserved using novel computer science techniques. We expect this project to throw up research issues that will further advance the state-of-the-art.Dr. P. Anandan, Managing Director, Microsoft Research

India

C A S E S T U D Y


pillars, and even read the writings on the walls. The experience of the user is heightened by the reproduction of ambient sounds, such as temple bells chiming and birds chirruping.

Technologies such as Photo Synth and HD View have been used to create the 3D walk-through. The process includes taking pictures of the location and then using the software tools to build the actual 3D image. For the Sri Andal Temple, eight photographers made three trips in seven days, to collect 6,000 pictures. Photosynth and HD View were then used to create the 3D model from regular digital

Multiplying the reach of Computer education with MulTIPoInTIntroducing computers in Indian schools, particularly those in rural areas has been a task fraught with challenges. The paucity of resources, where most schools can afford only a few computers and some barely one, has remained the one of the most significant problems in proliferating computer based education among India’s children.

In 18 rural primary schools studied by researchers, the student-to-PC ratio was as high as 10 :1. This was typical for most rural schools in India. Often, one PC was used for the entire class of 40 students, making it nearly impossible for learners to get a hands-on feel of the system. Typically, in this scenario, one dominant child controlled the mouse, while others remained passive onlookers, without operational control of the computer. The dominant child was often the most intelligent, the richest or simply the oldest in the group. Learning benefits appeared to accrue primarily to this child with the mouse, with the other children, having no direct contact with the PC, missing out and eventually losing interest.

It was keeping this in mind that Microsoft Research India (MSR India), the company’s research lab in the

country, set to work. Its goal was to find a solution that would make the computer accessible to a greater number of children. The research group decided to give all the students a mouse each, in order to enable multiple children to simultaneously interact with the computer.

Mice, not Mouse In 2007 the Bangalore-based Lab, Microsoft’s crucible of innovation in India, created a technology that would allow several computer mice to be connected to a PC’s USB (universal serial bus) port, helping to make up for the shortage of computers at schools in the country.

Christened MultiPoint—meaning the connection of any device “multiple times” to a PC —the technology enabled computer learning to touch more children than one in a traditional classroom situation. To allow people as well as developers to easily build their own applications or games using multiple mice, Microsoft Research India released the MultiMouse Software Development Kit (SDK) in June 2006.

Simply put, MultiPoint provides each child with a mouse and cursor on screen, thus effectively multiplying

photographs and build high definition views of different parts of the temple.

While the Sri Andal temple experience was built from existing tools, the India Digital Heritage project seeks to bring together researchers in computer science, arts, architecture and culture, and the government to discover and solve new problems in the digital archival and presentation of tangible and intangible heritage, as well as develop new tools to do so, that are extensible to other heritage sites and situations.

The MultiPoint software, developed by research assistant Udai Singh Pawar, assistant managing director Kentaro Toyama, and research intern Sushma Uppala, has enabled multi-colored cursors to co-exist on a single computer monitor.

C A S E S T U D Y


the number of students who can interact with a PC for the cost of a few extra mice. The software created by Microsoft Research India allows multiple colored cursors to co-exist on the monitor, along with numerous games with educational content. Trials with both single-mouse and multiple-mice scenarios suggested that children were more engaged when in control of a mouse, and that more mice increased overall engagement, or connection with on-screen content.

Focus on Collaborative learning The MultiPoint Project additionally allowed for new pedagogical opportunities, such as enabling collaborative learning, as well as ensuring that the software and educational experience kept pace with the capabilities of each child using the PC. This was particularly interesting even for developed nation scenarios where there would typically be one computer per child. Even in that situation, it was felt that it would be possible to build an environment where it was beneficial to have multiple children per PC due to the benefits of collaboration amongst the children.

Small technology promises large benefits for school students In field tests of 240 school students in India’s Karnataka state, Microsoft found that students who learned using MultiPoint fared as well on certain tests as students who had a PC to themselves. The surveys further indicated that MultiPoint, by promoting collaboration and competition among students, was helping to increase student scores on tests. Multiple mice were enabling a lot of scenarios for collaborative learning, something which was never really possible easily with single mouse

based educational software.

Today, MultiPoint has emerged as a elegant solution to the problem of computer scarcity in schools, as it enhances an institution’s investment power in technology. In order to popularize the platform, Microsoft is working with independent software vendors (ISVs) and academic institutions in various countries to develop educational software on the platform.

The Vidya Pratishtan Institute of Information Technology (VIIT) in Baramati, Maharashtra has created content in various subjects for classes IV to VII. Similarly, Edurite and Education Development Center (EDC), another Microsoft partner in the learning space, is also developing education content, curriculum and applications for MultiPoint. It has come up with Physics, English, Maths and Science applications for Classes ranging from V to VIII. Once tested, these applications will be deployed across 2,000 schools in seven states including Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bihar.

Clearly, MultiPoint is a technology with a lot of potential, both in developing as well as developed countries. In India, where education reforms are an imperative and on the cards, MultiPoint is an innovative idea whose time has come.

MultiPoint is based on the multiple-input technique, coined “Single Display Groupware.”

N E W S B Y T E S


Microsoft has released its global SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010, which investigates how small and midsize businesses (SMBs) across multiple segments fared during the recession and how they use technology. The research finds that businesses that value IT as an enabler for better business productivity and effectiveness and those that use hosted services performed better fiscally than those that do not.

IT critical to revenue growth Despite the global recession, more SMBs surveyed in 2010 reported an increase in revenue than in 2008. Those that reported growth in their respective segments view IT as critical to their business success.

In the past 12 months, 52 percent `of SMBs reported an increase in revenue, up from 39 percent in 2008. Increasing 20 points since 2008, `55 percent of SMBs viewed IT as critical to their business.

Of the SMBs that viewed IT as critical, 60 percent saw revenues grow over the past 12 months. In contrast, among SMBs that stated IT was not important, less than 29 percent saw revenue increase.

SMBs moving to Coud Computing The 2010 index indicated that SMBs were beginning to see the benefits of cloud computing; more than 40 percent of the respondents that used hosted or cloud technology reported revenue rises of 30 percent or more compared with 90 percent of respondents not using hosted technology that saw decreases in revenue. The advantages of hosted or cloud technology were viewed as reduced cost and IT management and maintenance, as well as increased business value, productivity and competitiveness.

The study also indicated that awareness of hosted services was increasing with 65 percent of SMBs using hosted software to some extent. Around 73 percent of the remainder had considered it, compared with only 44 percent in the 2008 Index.

Small and midsize businesses using Hosted Services have better financial performance, says study

Correlating business performance with technology usage

The research showed that SMBs were beginning to understand the value of “renting” IT as a service - 36 percent said a “pay-as-you-go” model would be attractive.

It revealed that cloud computing had become a watchword for the IT industry as software and services such as e-mail, websites and e-commerce were increasingly available in an on-premises, off-premises or hybrid model depending on business needs.

The findings from the research were concluded by analyst firm Freeform Dynamics Ltd, which independently assessed the SMB IT and Hosted IT Index 2010 to ascertain to what degree IT adoption was driving revenue growth specifically within the SMB community.

N E W S B Y T E S


cleaning with the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) which checks computers for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software and helps remove any infection found.

“Relevant technology, at an affordable price, can go a long way in alleviating the threat these challenges pose. We are glad to partner with the leaders in the IT industry to bring these relevant and cost-effective online solutions which would go a long way in helping the manufacturers of Tirupur implement IT, and compete with the rest of the world” Ravi venkateSan, Chairman, Microsoft India

Microsoft india brings affordable online software solutions to tirupur manufacturersUnder the aegis of Project Vikas, the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA)—through its Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), G-Tech Info Solutoins (Intl.) Pvt. Limited (GTISPL) and Microsoft India—has launched online solutions for the textile manufacturing SMEs in Tirupur. The solutions include an Online Desktop by Airtel, Hosted e-mail by Global Outlook and a Unified Communications solution from Wipro. These comprehensive and affordable enterprise offerings are aimed at enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the cluster. The Online Solutions also provide manufacturers an option of selecting the relevant hosted solution/s and take advantage of the “pay-as-you -go” model.

Recognizing the huge business opportunity thrown up by the SME segment and the challenges these organizations face in technology adoption, Microsoft India launched Project Vikas in partnership with the National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC) in 2007. Under the umbrella of this initiative, Microsoft offers SMEs a host of relevant and

affordable IT solutions. Project Vikas focuses on making IT adoption flexible by introducing hosted and online solutions that do not require any specific IT infrastructure and provide SMEs with a viable and cost-effective payment model.

The textile manufacturers of Tirupur can choose from the following online solutions unveiled by Airtel, Wipro and Global Outlook

The Online Desktop by Airtel-Nivio `offers customers the flexibility of accessing and sharing data from anywhere, anytime, alongside secure and cutting edge software, on a “pay-as-you-go” basis. 10 GB space is being provided to users online, to enable them to store documents, photos, music and presentations. The Hosted e-mail by Global `Outlook offers users enterprise class e-mail/collaboration solutions along with enterprise class security.The Unified Communications `by Wipro will help streamlining communications with easy flexibility in a single interface and

Microsoft Security essentials now in indiaBetween January and June 2009, 3,286 Indian websites were hacked, over 4,000 Indian portals were defaced in 2008 and between April and December 2008, phishing reported losses mounted to Rs. 46.6 crore (USD 10 million).

Recognizing the threats faced by the Internet ecosystem, Microsoft announced the availability of Security Essentials, an effective, high quality, hassle-free security solution for all genuine Windows users.

Already established as a “Good” anti-virus software, Microsoft Security Essentials responds to the growing and

changing threat landscape and helps to break down the barriers to real time protection. Existing Windows users and consumers buying a new PC that is enabled with a Windows operating system can acquire Microsoft Security Essentials by simply logging on to http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials.

Microsoft Security Essentials has features such as a Monthly ecosystem

Cost of Microsoft Dynamics hosted CRM from net4india (per month / per user)

No of User Licenses 1 2 5 10 20

Base Rate (Rs.) 2,999 5,799 14,099 27,999 54,699

by enabling easy connectivity with others in different locations for customers. The solution will also provide software-powered voice capabilities, enterprise-class instant messaging and multi-party audio and video conferencing.

G L O B A L O U T L O O K


New Study reportS oN coNtributioNS of it Sector to global ecoNomic recoveryGlobal IT research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has released the results of global research measuring the information technology (IT) industry's contributions to local economies.

The IDC study investigates the contribution of IT to gross domestic product (GDP), job creation in the IT industry, employment in the software sector, formation of new companies, local IT spending, and tax revenues in 52 countries, representing 98 percent of total worldwide IT spending.

Key findings on the IT industry for India

Spending on IT will reach INR 989 `billion (USD 22.6 billion) in 2009, and is expected to grow to INR 1,643 billion (USD 37.6 billion) by 2013 for a compounded rate of

growth of 11.8 percent. By 2013, IT as a percentage of GDP `will increase from 1.8 percent to 2.3 percent. The IT market will drive the `creation of nearly 7,000 new businesses and 3,24,000 new jobs between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013. Most of the new companies `will be small and locally owned organizations.

Additional findings about the software industry in India

Software spending represents 12 `percent of India's total IT spending. Software drives employment in `the IT industry, as 45 percent of IT employees are engaged in creating, distributing, installing or servicing software.

Research from 52 countries including India forecasts the

creation of 5.8 million new jobs and 75,000 new businesses

globally over the next 4 years. Expects IT spending in India to

reach INR 1,643 billion (USD 37.6 billion) by 2013

G L O B A L O U T L O O K


gartNer SayS 66 perceNt of global 1000 orgaNizatioNS will have formal techNology iNNovatioN proceSSeS by 2010

As IT organisations struggle to help their companies achieve growth, profitability and competitiveness through technology innovation, two-thirds of Global 1000 companies will have formalized technology innovation processes by 2010, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner discussed this issue and examined how organizations could achieve growth through emerging technologies at its Emerging Trends Symposium held last year.

Technology is becoming inextricably linked with business and management innovation. Because of the high levels of impact and spending that result from this linkage, technology innovation needs formal planning and management.

According to Gartner, integrating emerging technologies was an important source of innovation for the business. Innovation initiatives could emerge from ideas generated by the

business. Organizations therefore needed to exploit idea channels and map clear links between their business goals, business projects and emerging technology planning.

The research firm said organizations needed timely innovation to meet either internal organization performance needs or to address customer or market needs. Having clear innovation processes and accountable leaders also contributed to ensuring progress and timely innovations.

Gartner said IT had multiple opportunities to contribute to business innovation. IT in fact played three roles: innovating the internal IT processes and services, introducing emerging trends and technologies in support of business objectives, and supporting business-led innovation initiatives through direct participation and providing innovation expertise.

IT leaders had to clarify the three roles in their organizations and ensure that they were building the capabilities and leadership to fulfil their responsibilities in each role.

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