Human Blood May Contain A Cure For AIDS

"German scientists at the University of Ulm have identified a natural ingredient of human blood that prevents the HIV-1 virus from from infecting immune cells and multiplying. The molecule, which they call virus-inhibitory peptide (VIRIP), promises new types of effective treatment for HIV in the future. 'Tweaks to its amino acid components boosted its anti-HIV potency by two orders of magnitude. Tests also showed that some derivatives of the molecule are highly stable in human blood plasma, and non-toxic even at very high concentrations. A synthetic version of VIRIP also proved effective at blocking HIV, excluding the possibility that some other factor was responsible. VIRIP targets a sugar molecule which HIV uses to infect a host cell. '"

Custom Website Development
Offshore Outsourcing

Unix Vendors Get Creative Against Windows & Linux

"As x86 servers become increasingly capable, IT managers are taking a closer look at their Unix installations to determine whether a move to Linux or Windows might make sense, analysts say. "The defensible hill for Unix is the big, vertically scaling, mission-critical application, which is usually some type of database serving," says Andrew Butler, a vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "But increasingly, the appeal of Windows- and Linux-based systems running on cheaper, commodity hardware is becoming more and more compelling.""

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

Graph of Linux Vs. Windows System Calls

cgrayson recommends Richard Stiennon's blog on ZDNet — a post titled Why Windows is less secure than Linux shows a compelling graphical comparison between system calls on the two operating systems. The blogger tips Sana Security for the images. Quoting: "In its long evolution, Windows has grown so complicated that it is harder to secure... [T]hese images... are a complete map of the system calls that occur when a web server serves up [the same] single page of [HTML] with a single picture."

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

COWS Ajax - Ajax Evolved

"COWS Ajax takes over where Ajax leaves off. The web has gone through a great period of experimentation and there is now a dizzying array of frameworks, add-ons, howtos, and books. The common drawback these Ajax aids all fail to overcome is that, even with aids, apps take a long time to create and debug. Many times someone has already created a great tool and you'd really just rather use theirs instead of reinventing it (especially if it's a Google, Yahoo, or other trusted player). Wouldn't it be great to drop in a single line of code to gain a huge amount of functionality that frees you for something else? You can't do that with Ajax, but you can with COWS (Changeable Origin Web Services) Ajax. Now highly interactive third party services like SpellingCow are possible."

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

Microsoft Adds Risky System-Wide Undelete to Vista

"Windows Vista will have a new 'previous versions' feature when it ships next year. According to Ars Technica, the feature is built off of the volume shadow copy technology from Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Now turned on by default, the service stores the modified versions of a user's documents, even after they are deleted. They also report that you can browse folders from within Explorer to see snapshots of what they contained over time. It can be disabled, but this seems like a privacy concern." From the article: "Some users will find the feature objectionable because it could give the bossman a new way to check up on employees, or perhaps it could be exploited in some nefarious way by some nefarious person. Previous versions of Windows were still susceptible to undelete utilities, of course, but this new functionality makes browsing quite, quite simple. On the other hand, it should be noted that 'Previous Versions' does not store its data in the files themselves. That is, unlike Microsoft Office's 'track changes,' files protected with 'Previous Versions' will not carry their documentary history with them."

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a Natural Force in Free Markets

By Jeffrey A. Singer
Dr. Singer is a Phoenix-area surgeon and an adjunct scholar with the Reason Foundation who writes and lectures on regional and national public policy.

March 29, 2004 -- The other day, while performing an emergency operation on a patient with a bleeding ulcer, it occurred to me that surgeons don't see many ulcer patients these days. Back in the 1970s and early 80s I would operate for ulcer disease every week or so. But with the advent of new anti-ulcer drugs, most ulcer surgery has been "outsourced" to non-surgical medical specialists. Surgeons have more than made up for this loss of business through the explosion in laparoscopic surgical techniques, whereby people can have gallbladder and other operations as an outpatient through small scopes passed through the navel.

Surgeons are not alone when it comes to outsourcing. In the 19th century more than 80% of American workers were agriculturally based. Technological advancements have increased American farm productivity to the point where only 2-3% of Americans work on the farm. Agricultural jobs were outsourced to developing nations as Americans moved into manufacturing, tech, and service sector jobs.

The last 5 decades have seen a steady outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to countries in the developing world—the US has lost less manufacturing jobs than have the rest of the economically advanced nations. In turn, the advanced nations' economies have evolved into more finance, service-sector, and high-tech oriented industries.

Meanwhile, people in developing countries increase their wealth as they advance from poor agrarian societies to modern industrial ones. They become new consumers of technological, financial, and other services that developed countries have to offer.

This has been the story of mankind since the beginning. Free markets provide what the great economic historian Joseph Schumpeter called a process of "creative destruction." Always dynamic, always progressive, free markets constantly generate new products, new jobs, and new wealth on the foundations of earlier creations. In the end, they replace these earlier creations. Free markets propel society forward.

Where are the blacksmiths and candle makers? Cars and light bulbs have nearly completely eliminated these jobs. But everyone in society is better off today than in the days when blacksmiths and candle makers were indispensable.

To be sure, as societies transition from one stage of economic development to another, real people feel real pain as their jobs are "creatively destroyed." But in the long run, looking at the big picture, as those whose jobs are lost find new positions in newly created fields of work, everyone prospers.

The latest example of "outsourcing" relates to low tech jobs—mostly telephone-based tech support—being outsourced to newly emerging India, with a billion potential new customers for American products. While low tech jobs are going to India, the Indians are performing these jobs on equipment made in the US, and their newfound wealth is being spent on US exports. Ultimately this will increase US jobs in areas where the Indians can't compete. The Americans wind up doing more of what they do best while the Indians do the same. Both societies increase their net wealth in the process. It's ultimately a "win-win."

This creative destruction phenomenon is driven, in the end, by consumers, who are always king in a free market. The consumers demand the lowest price for the best possible product. If not, they will take their business elsewhere—perhaps to foreign imports. In order to compete for the consumers' business, US companies must constantly find ways to keep costs down while keeping quality up.

All of this was originally elucidated by the great classical economist David Ricardo. He called what he discovered the Law of Comparative Advantage, a spin-off of the division of labor principle. In his day, he would have said, "If the French make better wines for less money than the English, and the English make better sweaters for less money than the French, then they both would be better off if they drank French wine and wore English sweaters."

Today, ambitious political demagogues try to take advantage of the public's general lack of understanding of economic principles, as well as everyone's dismay when people are displaced by creative destruction, and they call for the government to intervene against "outsourcing." This is nothing new. They have been doing this since the days of Adam Smith.

In the interest of the health and wealth of society, Americans must resist the temptation to defy the laws of economics. They must try to understand and appreciate the benefits free markets provide to all societies.

Dr. Singer is a Phoenix-area surgeon and an adjunct scholar with the Reason Foundation who writes and lectures on regional and national public policy.

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

OFFSHORING & OUTSOURCING

ACKGROUND -- Historically, manufacturing jobs have been the backbone of our state's economy and helped create and sustain our middle class. In the late 1980's and most of the 1990's, our state economy began to diversify. We became leaders in information technology, research and development, and high-tech jobs. With this boom in high-skilled high-wage white collar jobs, we saw a shift in our dependence on manufacturing for our state’s economic vitality.

But these industries and many more such as timber, metal trades, agriculture, pulp and paper and food processing, all of which are important to our state’s economy, are being lost to offshoring and outsourcing.

It is important to distinguish between outsourcing (typically used to describe the contracting-out of government work) and offshoring (companies sending work outside the country).

The phenomena of outsourcing or offshoring is not new. Since the 1980's manufacturers have moved complete production facilities overseas in search of the lowest wage. Leading companies such as Microsoft, AT&T Wireless and Boeing are exporting our white collar high-tech jobs overseas to slash labor costs. In agriculture, whole operations from growing to packing are closing up shop to reopen in Third World nations, where there is an endless supply of workers willing to work for the lowest wages. This trend will have a significant impact on Washington’s economic future because our economy depends heavily on these industries and the jobs they create.

We also know that state agencies supported by our tax dollars are offshoring work in search of the lowest bidder. A 2004 governor’s office report disclosed that dozens of state agencies have outsourced work and sent millions in state revenue overseas.

The offshoring of service sector jobs has been greatly facilitated by the absence of any regulations regarding basic privacy protections, professional qualifications and security safeguards.

LABOR'S POSITION -- In the 2004 session, the Washington State Labor Council and its allies called on policymakers to look at the issue of outsourcing and offshoring and its impact on our trade-dependant state. No new policies or bills were enacted, but constructive study and debate occurred.

But now the time for study is over. There is no question about the problem and no question that Washington's taxpayers would prefer their money spent to create jobs here in Washington rather than in other countries.

The WSLC will support 2005 legislation to prohibit the offshoring of state contracts, to demand accountability from offshoring companies that get state tax breaks. Washington taxpayers should not subsidize companies that export jobs. All tax breaks should have strong provisions for public disclosure and claw backs if the company accepts subsidies, but exports jobs overseas or does not create the intended number of jobs (also see Tax Policy, Subsidies and Economic Development).

Our state must also look at the privacy issues surrounding the personal information beyond name address and phone number. Social Security numbers, medical and financial information, dates of birth, names of relatives and other information is being compiled by overseas contractors outside the jurisdiction of federal or state consumer privacy laws. These security matters have been left solely to the discretion of the private-sector businesses sending the work offshore. As we learn more on this issue we will work for policies that protects workers and our communities.

RECENT LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

2004—EHCR 4419 would have created a joint task force to study offshore outsourcing. The resolution passed the House, but died in the Senate.

— A proviso in the House version of the supplemental operating budget would have required the Office of Financial Management to report on state contracts performed at locations outside the U.S. The proviso was not included in the final version of the budget.

— SHB 3187 would have prohibited work under certain state contracts from being performed at locations outside the U.S. It died in the House

— SHB 3186 would have required call center employees to identify their employer’s identity and location. It died in the House.

— SHB 2352 would have required certain employers to give affected employees 10 days' advance notice of a layoff for workers required to train their replacements. It died in the House.

with thanks to : wslc.org

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

Pakistan-India Conflict Has IT Execs On Edge

Companies that outsource offshore want business-continuity assurances.

By Diane Rezendes Khirallah and Sandra Swanson : InformationWeek

As the Pakistan-India standoff escalates, IT managers are keeping watchful eyes on offshore outsourcing partners--even though IT workers in India seem relatively unconcerned about tension in the region.

"It's very surreal," Wipro Ltd. CEO Vivek Paul says. "Our employees in India watch CNN and see U.S. and British civilians leaving, but they aren't feeling under threat." That may be because most of India's estimated 445,000 IT workers are in southern cities--Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune--some 1,500 miles from the border with Pakistan .

Still, the word from top Indian outsourcing firms Infosys, Tata, and Wipro is that U.S. clients are concerned about business continuity.

"They aren't worried that systems will be destroyed, because the systems don't reside in India," says Giga Information Group analyst Stephanie Moore, "but they're worried that resources that develop or maintain systems could go down because communications are cut off."

For now, most IT executives, including Jarnail Lail, VP of business systems for W.W. Grainger Inc., are simply watching the situation. "I have family there, and I also want to make sure we have proper coverage in case there are any problems," he says. Grainger outsources programming and production support to Covansys Corp., a U.S. outsourcer with several offices in India. Data and systems reside in the United States. A 50-50 split of personnel between the United States and India means someone can handle any IT issues that arise if communications go down, Lail says.

Less than 5% of Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s IT staff is offshore, so the company says it isn't concerned about IT workflow interruptions. After Sept. 11, Sears requested contingency plans from its five offshore partners. Such plans typically include moving staff to safer locales, shifting communications to other regions, and ensuring that redundant systems are in place.

If the situation worsens, Sears may move some work elsewhere, but it has no intentions of abandoning its Indian relationships, says Karen Schram, a member of Sears' IT sourcing strategy team. "There are up-and-coming strong pockets of IT resources, but they're several years behind India in terms of a mature offshoring model."

Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

Outsourcing Benifits

Outsourcing development work offers significant savings, but companies need reliable offshore partners to realize those savings. When you consider the advantages of outsourcing, you'll realize there's a lot to gain by using it as an intrinsic part of your business strategy.
The benefits of outsourcing to Pakistan of course are variable, dependent upon the nature and situation of the organization. However, the following is a list of common reasons why outsourcing is undertaken:
Lower costs due to economies of scale
Ability to concentrate on core functions
Greater flexility and ability to define the requisite service more readily
Specific supplier benefits. For example, better security, continuity, etc.
Higher quality service due to focus of the supplier
Improved internal management disciplines resulting from the exercise itself
Less dependency upon internal resources
Control of budget
Faster setup of the function or service
Lower ongoing investment required in internal infrastructure
Greater ability to control delivery dates (eg: via penalty clauses)
Lack of internal expertise
Increase flexibility to meet changing business conditions
Purchase of industry best practise
Improve risk management
Acquire innovative ideas
Increase commitment and energy in non core areas
Improve credibility and image by associating with superior providers
Generate cash by transferring assets to the provider
Gain market access and business opportunities through the supplier's network
Turn fixed costs into variable costs
As part of the outsourcing, many companies are debating when to outsource their management support tools as well. This is a complex question that must consider the competitive advantage which a tool may provide. The company must also account for how ready the market is to support such a tool in an outsourcing model. The final direction should not solely be question of cost savings, but must consider the benefits and the strategic position of the company in the marketplace.
Customized Web Development
outsourcing

Skype buys VoIP technology companies

APRIL 11, 2006 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Skype Technologies SA today said it has acquired Internet voice technology company Sonorit Holding AS and its U.S. subsidiary, Camino Networks Inc., for about $27 million in eBay Inc. stock.
Skype, which is owned by eBay, made the acquisition to add the companies' online voice engineering experts to its staff, it said. They will help design and develop future versions of Skype's VoIP (voice over IP) product.
Skype described Sonorit and Camino as start-up companies building products for speech processing, coding and transmission over Internet-based networks.
Camino's speech products are geared toward mobile IP networks, according to a biography of Jonathan Christensen, Camino's president and CEO, on the Web site of an investment company for which he serves as an adviser.
Sonorit and Camino have been the subject of at least one lawsuit. In December, Global IP Sound AB (GIPS), a company that offers VoIP technologies, filed a lawsuit that charged them with violating trade secrets. GIPS said some Sonorit workers were former GIPS employees.
EBay bought VoIP provider Skype in 2005 for $2.5 billion, aiming to help buyers and sellers using its online auction site to communicate with each other easily.
http://www.dizyn.com
http://www.outsourcingi.com

Latest In Outsourcing, Pakistan; India To Use Canada As A Backdoor To America

Entering the frontdoor of the outsourcing market is Pakistan, sneaking in the backdoor is India. Interested-Participant has an excellent post on the challenges facing Pakistan in providing outsourcing. Here's an excerpt:

... although India is recognized as the largest recipient of outsourced telecommunications, many other countries are also providing workers for outsourced jobs. China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Russia are benefiting, just to name a few.

...

Enter Farukh Aslam, Chairman of the Call Centres Association of Pakistan ... he predicts that the Pakistani call center industry will employ 10,000 workers by next year.

In other outsourcing news comes plans by Indian companies to head off the angry people who are pissed about all the high-tech work moving out of country. They'll do this by setting up backdoor companies in Canada and funneling the work to their companies in India.

Toronto Star (by way of Slashdot that has a lot of comments on the issue)

As U.S. lawmakers look for ways to discourage the outsourcing of high-paying software jobs to low-cost markets such as India, more Indian companies are opening back doors into the United States by setting up shop in Canada.

The idea is to offer alternatives to U.S.-based Fortune 500 companies that are eager to get some benefit from the cost savings of outsourcing. By moving work to a "near-shore" destination such as Canada, U.S. companies can mitigate the domestic backlash that may come with the "off-shoring" of jobs.

I'm not surprised companies would want to try and hide the fact they are against American workers. Of course the Indian companies doing this are more than happy.

"There are some (U.S.) customers who feel a great affinity to the Canadian market," said Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services Ltd., India’s fourth-largest computer services firm.

...

Canada is one of several locations targeted by Satyam as "near-shore" or "near-sourcing" opportunities. The company has also set up software centres in Australia and China, is getting into Malaysia and Hungary and is considering moves into Mexico and South America.

...

General Electric Co., Satyam’s largest customer, represented 13 per cent of total revenue in the quarter. The company does work for 109 of the Fortune 500 companies.

So there's no outsourcing problem. Only 20% of the fortune 500 companies are doing it.

Satyam only has 250 people so far committed to the Canadian market – 100 based at its Mississauga development centre and the rest working out of India.

...

Ignoring these changes is what got many U.S. companies in trouble, which is why Satyam is planting seeds in China, a market expected to be the next global outsourcing opportunity after India has run its course.

60% of the outsourced jobs to their Canada "front" go straight out to India. Satyam also clearly admits that India will "run its course". With that many people in India they shouldn't need to go to China, but the fact is these Jackals are going to sell out their own people once their workers start actually making a decent living and ship all those jobs to China.

Anyone who is investing in Indian infrastructure and markets should take a second look at that statement. He is saying flat out that there will be major layoffs in India once they start demanding a decent wage, moving those jobs to China and other lower wage countries. This will cause a great pop to the current outsourcing bubble in India, which is propping up their economic growth. Once this occurs there will be a huge drop in consumer spending there directly affecting the whole of their economy and every industry in it.

http://www.dizyn.com
http://www.outsourcingi.com

Outsourcing to Pakistan Saves Millions

“Outsourcing to Pakistan was my best business decision” says Pervaiz Lodhie, President and CEO, LEDtronics Inc. Los Angeles.

LEDtronics Inc. [www.ledtronics.com] one of the leading firms of the LED [Light Emitting Diode] industry of today with more than 70% of the Fortune 500 companies as its clients, outsources part of it product packaging to Karachi-based Ms. Shaan Technologies, a contract manufacturing company, says that in future it plans to move more labor intensive assemblies to Karachi while maintaining parallel manufacturing in the Torrance California plant.

About 4 years ago with the global market in recession, the companies were cutting costs and looking for newer ways of trying to sustain their falling revenues and Ledtronics was riding the same boat.

LEDtronics, like many other companies, had a large pool of ‘once hot’ leads that were just filed and piled for the past years. These leads that had once originated from Ad responses, web forms, expos etc. were never given their due importance of being followed up in a timely manner as major source of revenue generation for the company - resulting in a vast collection of old, dead and cold leads.

At that time, Mr. Pervaiz Lodhie was finalizing talks with Mr. Nasser Jhumra and Mr. Babar Jhumra to team up and create a Pakistan-US joint venture under their existing company, NBA Computers [www.nbacomputers.com], Karachi - a Business Process Outsourcing and Call Center company.

Now the first of its kind small BPO Company, NBA Computers, was awarded the task of re-heating LEDtronics cold leads. Mr. Babar Jhumra, Managing Partner, NBA Computers, with a unique management style and out-of-the-box thinking mixed with a systematic approach to problem-solving, maximizing efficiency and optimizing results started working on the project along with his team of dedicated and experienced experts.

Behind the scene, Mr. Nasser Jhumra, CIO, CTO and Partner, NBA Computers based in Los Angeles, USA, provided the vision for the setup with a view to the future of global outsourcing needs and also provided the key consumer/corporate US market analysis and information for the target market.

After weeks of system design, technological requirements, process flow, reporting and analysis, a plan of action was ready to put in place. Now came the most important and difficult aspect: Call Center Agent Training. Since a project of this nature had not been attempted in Pakistan, there were no experienced agents available.

To develop the right skill set, script and approach, Babar started making initial calls himself. With every call he made and the type of response received, he knew better on how he could modify the approach and hence improving performance and progress to a final script development. Once this process was carefully completed and recorded, a detailed approach along with a script and devised agent training plan was discussed with the Call Center Supervisors and the agent training began. After six weeks of through training, the project was finally underway.

In the first month, the project received an 8% response rate with an increased order amount nearing $9000. The team at NBA Computers knew they could do better. By the third month the response rate had increased more than twice to 18%.

Because of outsourcing of Call Center and BPO support to NBA Computers and manufacturing support to Shaan Technologies Karachi Pakistan, LEDtronics was able improve its revenues from dead untapped leads by more than $2 million dollars and managed to not only survive but grow in a recession economy.

Mr. Pervaiz Lodhie congratulated the Pakistani NBA Team of experts, Mr. Babar and Mr. Nasser Jhumra, for achieving high standards of excellence in the on-going services being provided to LEDtronics, Inc. from Pakistan.

Customized Webdevelopment
Outsourcing

Pakistan Becoming a New Hot Spot for IT Outsourcing

Why is Pakistan the hot new offshore information technology (IT) destination? This is because of a combination of favorable economic circumstances. Just when many Western managers are finally becoming comfortable with the idea of working closely with Indian IT firms, along comes Pakistan.

Pakistan is shaking off decades of "also ran" status. Funds invested into building educational institutions in Pakistan (when there were not enough jobs to absorb all the graduates from those institutions) are paying off as Pakistan begins to field a modern, highly productive labor force that is the envy of more prosperous but less tech savvy nations elsewhere in the region.

Why should the average Western IT professional, businessperson or IT consumer care? Because we are all going to be buying and using more IT outputs from Pakistan. To be a smarter buyer and user of IT products calls for a familiarity with Pakistan, even for those who do not initially intend to do business with Pakistani firms. We are all part of a global economy and Pakistan is an increasingly important part of that global economy.
Customized Webdevelopment

Pakistans Internet Infrastructure Hindering Outsourcing

In late 2005, an undersea cable linking Pakistan to the world snapped, leaving the country in ‘Internet darkess’ for more than 6 days. The biggest damage was done to outsourcing and IT companies, which could not conduct business for those 6 days.

Now it happened again. This time, there was some back-up plan, and some of the traffic was routed through a satellite channel. Though this helped, it was obviously inadequate, and can only be a short term fix. Eventually, Pakistan will have to move to a multi-level redundacy plan like in India, or China.
Customized Webdevelopment

Pakistan geariPakistan gearing up to be major destination for outsourcingng up to be major destination for outsourcing

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz yesterday said that Pakistan by focusing on development of human capital, better infrastructure and an enabling environment for investors, is gearing up to be a major destination for outsourcing of IT enabled services.

The Prime Minister said as a result of economic reforms introduced by the government, investment friendly polices and availability of human capital, the cost of doing business in Pakistan has been reduced and more investors are attracted to Pakistan.

With the establishment of SEMEWE 4, Pakistan now has better international connectivity and redundancy will provide enhanced potential for outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) enable services which has further improved the prospects of local and foreign investment in IT and Telecom sector.