IT can accelerate Inclusion

Financial inclusion is a hotly discussed topic at industry forums. At a recent financial inclusion summit attended by the crème of India Inc, actor Aamir Khan suggested that educational inclusion should begin from childhood, and that schools should admit children with disabilities. A large section of India’s population is semi-literate and does not have a savings account. The challenge then is to reach out to this section of the population. I believe this can be achieved using simple technology.

To reach these people, you have to observe their lifestyle. Look at what technology they have (radio sets and mobile phones), the places and shops they visit, their modes of transport, their language and culture. Somehow, the technology that you introduce to them has got to blend into all this. It should not come as a shock to them, insult their intelligence, be prohibitively expensive or be too complicated to use.

With India’s high tele-density, there’s a striking chance that many of these people own mobile phones and are number literate. While they may have never visited a bank, a trip to the local kirana store, vegetable vendor, petrol pump, chemist or telecom retailer is routine.

The Kirana store is a Customer Service Point

That gave Eko India Financial Services (Eko) an idea: why not use these points to touch potential customers for banking services. SBI appointed Eko as financial correspondent to sell its savings accounts through a network of Customer Service Points (CSPs). Eko has 350 to 400 service points in West and South Delhi with another 75 in three districts in Bihar.

Customers are given a booklet of 10-digit USSD codes for various transactions

Customers can operate their savings accounts and perform cash-in/out transactions only by using USSD codes on their mobile handsets. They are given a booklet of codes, a secret PIN and an authentication device. Currency can be deposited or withdrawn at the CSP, which acts like a human ATM. Thus the customer never has to visit a bank branch. What’s more, they can also do money remittances between Delhi, NCR and Bihar.

This system has helped 7,000 people in New Delhi, NCR and Bihar get a savings bank account. And SBI has collected Rs 22 lakh in savings deposits—all this in a metter of eight months! So I’m convinced IT can accelerate inclusion.

Well, the same principal can be applied to make education inclusive. The radio set is common in rural areas and in some cases people have access to (satellite) TV. Potentially, CDMA wireless technology can be used for Internet access, perhaps through kiosks.

This is not a new idea. A few years ago ITC’s Agri Business Division successfully introduced e-Choupals to Indian farmers. An e-Choupal is a village internet kiosk that’s managed by farmers. It gives the agricultural community access to ready information in the local language. Information ranges from the weather & market prices, knowledge on scientific farm practices & risk management; inputs to facilitate the sale of farm inputs and for purchasing farm produce from the farmers’ doorsteps.

Full story: http://www.informationweek.in/Mobile/10-01-12/Eko%E2%80%99s_Mobile_Platform_Accelerates_Financial_Inclusion.aspx

All for One and One for All

The world has changed and customers are no longer content with mere solutions. For that matter, many people don’t really care about the hardware and software behind a solution. Instead, businesses want to see the outcome of IT—the actual improvements and efficiencies it can bring about.

In this new scenario it’s imperative to become a one-stop shop offering end-to-end solutions. Back that up with a trusted and credible name and a large customer base.

Companies have a certain set of skills and are good at a finite set of things. For the missing pieces, they either acquire or associate with other companies that have the core technologies they’d like to have—often paying millions or even billions of dollars for it. But wait, there’s another motive to this.

Take Cisco for instance. I think of Cisco as a networking company with expertise in switching technology, first. Cisco has been on an acquisition spree through the years, gobbling companies for expertise in voice and video over networks. It’s most recent acquisition was Tandberg, the Norwegian conferencing solutions company. Today Cisco has even got into the server business, long the domain of IBM, Sun and HP.

HP recently acquired networking stalwart 3Com and this acquisition will give its ProCurve business a major boost next year. 3Com has also got a firm presence in the Chinese market, one that no one can ignore today. But there’s another motive behind this acquisition—it is a step closer to HP’s data center vision—an environment that brings together servers, storage, networking, management, facilities and services. HP calls this Converged Infrastructure. Cisco is onto something similar and calls theirs the Unified Computing System (UCS); it’s their version of the virtual data center.

By acquiring a series of companies with core skills, one will eventually be able to offer all layers of the stack. But where such acquisitions are not possible there is always the option of collaboration and coalition. A recent and notable example is the coalition between Cisco, EMC and VMware, forming the Virtual Computing Environment coalition. This partnership will set new standards for, and revolutionize private cloud infrastructures.

But the idea of converged network architecture, recently proposed by HP, Cisco and others, isn’t new. In fact a company called Liquid Computing had suggested this back in 2005. It has already deployed its LiquidIQ ‘data center in a chassis,’ at customer sites. In this converged system, server, network, storage and operating system, and associated physical and virtual connections, are represented as logical components manageable via a LiquidIQ interface or through existing management systems.

While converged network architectures aim to take the complexity out of integrating disparate IT systems, the real winners will be the enterprises. Customers will now be able to increase business agility at a faster pace thanks to IT infrastructure flexibility and because of lower costs for operating IT infrastructure in converged or virtual data center environments.

Microsoft Optimistic About Rapid Windows 7 Migration

By Brian Pereira

Microsoft launched its new operating system on October 22 but many of its customers were already testing it in live environments months before the launch date. However, the fact remains that more than 70 percent of customers still use Windows XP.

Many Vista users downgraded to XP. Windows XP and Vista users are thrilled with the robustness, security and features of Windows 7, but the usual practice is to wait for Service Pack 1. Network Computing spoke to Rajan Anandan, MD, Microsoft India and customers such as NIIT and Maruti Suzuki India, to understand how soon this migration will happen. Some CIOs also shared their views and plans for Windows 7.

Microsoft launched its new operating system on October 22 but many of its customers were already testing it in live environments months before the launch date. However, the fact remains that more than 70 percent of customers still use Windows XP.

Many Vista users downgraded to XP. Windows XP and Vista users are thrilled with the robustness, security and features of Windows 7, but the usual practice is to wait for Service Pack 1. Network Computing spoke to Rajan Anandan, MD, Microsoft India and customers such as NIIT and Maruti Suzuki India, to understand how soon this migration will happen. Some CIOs also shared their views and plans for Windows 7.

When we asked Anandan to give us a timeline he instead shared his optimism and opined, “Over 1,000 companies in India among the top 5,000 are already using Windows 7. These are Infosys, L&T, Bangalore International Airport, Biocon, etc. This proves that we’ve listened well [to our customers] and Windows 7 addresses many of the concerns of enterprise users. That’s why we expect the migration to be pretty rapid.”
This time Microsoft did something that is more common in the open source world. It conducted a customer experience program and the largest beta testing program that involved 8 million testers worldwide. It ensured that the OS was used in large enterprises (including Microsoft) for the past eight months and it was in close contact with users for feedback. This helped it identify and fix bugs that usually surface after a launch.
NIIT for instance, signed up with Microsoft for the customer experience program from day one. Over time, it migrated its users to Windows 7 in groups. The system administration team was first, then the back office users, followed by the course content developers.

Says Pankaj Dikshit, GM, NIIT, “The experience has been satisfying. Windows 7 gives much better performance on any class of hardware. We installed this OS on older PCs with 512 MB RAM and to our surprise it ran rather well.”

Sunil Mehta, Senior VP & Area Systems Director Central Asia, JWT says, “From the demos that I saw prior to the launch I can see that there has been a massive change over Vista. Windows 7 will change the way people work and you can expect better performance too.”

While the feedback and enthusiasm is positive, it’s only a matter of time before organizations shift their entire base of clients to Windows 7. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer expects most Windows 7 installations will come with new computers. Enterprises refresh their computers every three to four years and that’s when an enterprise will really make the big change to Windows 7. Of course, those who have signed on for Microsoft’s assurance program will also upgrade or be tempted to upgrade.
Organizations such as Maruti Suzuki India, Kuoni Travel Group, India and others have skipped Windows Vista and are upgrading from XP.

Perhaps the biggest factor driving enterprises to upgrade is XP’s limited life. Microsoft has long stopped selling XP and discontinued tech or warranty support; it is offering security upgrades till 2014. It is also known that Microsoft let Vista users downgrade to XP till 2011.
Microsoft is also touting Windows 7’s lower TCO and green capabilities, as compared to Windows XP. Says Anandan, “A large enterprise or middle market company can save between Rs 5,000 – 8,000 per client device (desktop or notebook). That’s because a lot of the security software that companies buy separately is already built into the OS. VPN connectivity is built-in so you can save cost there too. We have customers who have achieved these savings already.”

Anandan also informed us that Windows 7 is greener than XP. “Microsoft has committed to reduce its carbon footprint by 50 percent in three years. Windows 7 is 50 percent more green than Vista. This is achieved through better power management features.”

While certain features of Windows 7 seem attractive to enterprises, the caveat is features such as DirectAccess and BranchCache can be used only in conjunction with Windows Server 2008 R2, which was also launched recently. Enterprises may be waiting to upgrade its servers first and that could delay the migration to Windows 7. Meanwhile, some CIOs shared their plans for the switchover.

Says Rajesh Uppal, Chief General Manager (Information Technology Division), Maruti Suzuki India, “[For us] it’s a direct jump from XP to Windows 7. Currently we are using a few licenses of Windows 7 on a trial basis. We are looking at buying 2,000 licenses within six months. We are getting an automatic upgrade as part of the software assurance program with Microsoft.”

Mehta of JWT says, “We have a global licensing agreement with Microsoft and all Vista systems will eventually be upgraded to Windows 7, Professional version.  WPP (the parent company) has 100,000 people and we go on the basis of headcount. So, that’s as many licenses that will be required. In India the upgrade will happen in Q2 next year.”

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Final Years for the Desktop OS?

On my way to the Windows 7 launch conference I pondered over the future of the desktop OS. Yes, physical keyboards and mice will eventually be replaced by multi-touch and speech recognition interfaces. Motion- and gesture-based controls are also likely. But the thought that really intrigues me is the replacement of the desktop OS with something else, like say virtual desktops or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

VDI is a desktop delivery model. The client desktop (OS, applications and user data) reside on a server in the cloud or in a data center—not on client devices. Desktop images are pushed to client devices, so it appears as if it’s all there on the PC, but in reality it’s at the backend.

Microsoft and Apple may have independent views on desktop virtualization, and may dismiss my wild thoughts on the future of the desktop OS. But let me corroborate these with some facts.

* Firstly, companies and employees are already benefiting from desktop virtualization. NIIT for instance, is using desktop virtualization at its education centers.
Says Pankaj Dikshit, General Manager, NIIT, “Being an IT training operation we face a major challenge, which is the dynamic nature of the environment. In the evening we may teach Java but the next morning it is Dot Net and later Oracle. I can’t have a PC or server that does all this. We need to quickly switch between environments. The other issue is that the environment is becoming invasive—students want to install applications, change the configuration and customize the desktop.”

Dikshit says virtualization lets him achieve all of this using a single solution. He says virtual images provide different environments on the fly. It also helps him manage the dynamic environment very efficiently.

Desktop virtualization is also a boon for mobile workers. It let’s them access their desktops from any location in the world, using any client device. It’s a blessing in disguise for companies who fear the risk of data loss due to stolen notebooks. Also, the data always remains on the organization’s servers and is always accessible, regardless of whether an employee leaves the organization or goes on vacation.

* Secondly, Microsoft itself is gearing up for VDI. Windows Server 2008 R2 has Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

After virtualizing servers, Citrix and VMware are set to do the same for desktops with products like XenDesktop 4 and VMware View respectively.

* Thirdly, consider the cost advantage. Since the OS runs off the server, you aren’t paying for thousands of client licenses. Ditto for applications that also reside on the server. With VDI, one is spared the chore of upgrading OSes and applications every few years, on desktops. The recurring costs of hardware upgrades or client device refreshes, every three or four years, goes away too.

There is another threat to desktop OSes. The Web browser can perform many of the functions of an OS. But there are doubts whether it will succeed in OS-intensive tasks such as managing devices and computing resources.

I am sure CIOs are aware about all this, but the question is, will VDI replace the desktop OS? And has Windows (client) reached the end of the line?

Personally, I believe that the two will co-exist. VDIs will be suitable for certain corporate environments, while desktop clients will continue to be used, especially with home devices.

Record phone conversations

BY BRIAN PEREIRA

As a journalist I frequently engage in telephonic interviews with industry executives, some in countries as far away as the US  and Australia. They either dial me or I need to dial in to a pre-arranged conference call session. Call bridge details such as toll-free numbers, pass codes and the call time (local) are sent to me in advance. These discussions are usually technical in nature so I often record such calls using my cell phone or a tape recorder. I am sure you will need to do the same and I offer some options in this article.

Firstly, let me tackle the legalities. Is it illegal to record a phone conversation without the other party’s consent? I might as well ask: Is it illegal to shoot candid photos of people on the street without their consent? While I am unaware of any Indian law that forbids one to do so (photos, video or audio recording), I think this is really a matter of ethics and privacy. It’s better to inform the other party in advance that you will be recording the conversation. Take their consent and offer them the option to make comments “off the record”.  Well, you could record on the sly, but if the other party becomes aware, they are likely to protest angrily and terminate the call. Phones like the Nokia E-series beep every 20 seconds when you use the default sound recorder, so the other party knows that the call is being recorded. Of course, there’s a way round this, but more on this later.

Now, on to the options and the “how-to” instructions. The simplest way to record a phone conversation is to use a speaker phone. Place your sound recording device (dictaphone) near the phone’s speaker. If the recording device is a digital dictaphone or a mobile phone, do not place it too near the phone’s speaker, as it might cause some electro-magnetic disturbance (remember how that screen image on your old analog monitor danced wildly when your ringing cell phone was placed too near?)

A Telephone Adaptor

The second method is to use a telephone recording adaptor. This useful accessory is included in some digital recorder kits (insist on it). It can also be bought from a shop on Mumbai’s Lamington Road or equivalent. It’s a small device with an RJ-11 telephone plug at one end, one or two telephone sockets at the other end and a cable with a 3.5 mm headphone plug. Unplug the telephone from its wall socket and plug it into the telephone adaptor. The plug on the telephone adaptor goes into the wall socket and the headphone plug from the device goes into the ‘Mic’ or ‘Line-in’ socket in your recording device. When the phone rings, lift up the receiver and press the ‘Record’ button on the recorder.

The third option is the sound recorder in your mobile phone. But there is a problem. Some phones beep every 20 seconds while recording and that can be annoying. The way round this is third-part software like Total Recall recorder from Killer Software. Download and install on your phone. No more beeps.

Finally, a word about sound file formats and transcribing. While the Nokia phones record in the common Wav/wave format (playable in Windows Media Player) Sony Ericsson phones record in the proprietary AMR (Adaptive Multi-rate) format. So after you transfer the sound files to the PC you will need to encode these to MP3 or Wav formats that are recognized by your audio player software. This file conversion can be done using the encoder in your CD burning software (Nero) or with some third-party shareware such as QuickMediaConverter. You could also download an AMR player and play the files (natively) without the need to encode to MP3.

Lastly, a word about transcribing. This is the most difficult part!

It can take as much as 2 – 3 hours to transcribe a one-hour interview, word-to-word. Tip: Listen to the full recording once (make notes) and keep an eye on the stop watch or counter in the media player. Note down the time for certain segments in the conversation that you’d like to transcribe. It’s like watching the time counter on a DVD player and noting down the reading for certain scenes so that you’d like to recall later.

It would certainly help to jot notes during the phone conversation. Note down key terms and phrases, just in case these aren’t discernable from the audio track while transcribing.

And, do start transcribing immediately after the phone interview (while it’s all fresh in your human memory).

Luckily my Mom did not have to go through all this at work. She took the easier way out and learned Pitman shorthand!

Obsolete-proof hardware

A week ago I was attending a technical seminar in Hyderabad. Here a certain company was trying to pitch ‘Green IT’ products to its customers. A customer asked why the switches he had already purchased could simply be green-enabled instead of replacing these with new ‘green’ ones. Technical obsolescence makes it necessary for companies to replace products every few years. Isn’t there a way to make hardware obsolete-proof? And why can’t vendors take back old products and sell new ones at a reduced rate?

Buying new hardware every few years is getting to be a costly proposition and IT managers are feeling this more so now, during the downturn. But there is a way to make hardware obsolete-proof, to a certain extent or limit.

Have you heard about the concept of upgrading the firmware by flashing the BIOS? And then there are updates for device drivers. The feature set of a certain device, such as a MP3 player, motherboard, EPABX system or network switch can be determined by the corresponding device driver or firmware. The former is a piece of software that you install on the hard disk while firmware is special software that’s hard-wired on a chip in the device. The manufacturer could periodically release updates which the user could download from its website and then, following a special procedure, upload these into the chip, thereby overwriting the previous version of the firmware.

This concept is now applicable to the iPod and the iPhone. Apple releases updates periodically to extend or improve the functionality of these devices. Motherboard and graphics card manufacturers also offer driver and firmware updates.

There’s a Linux and Asterisks software solution that converts a PC into a full-fledged EPABX system. New features are easily added just by installing additional software modules rather than purchasing additional hardware.

Touch screen phones have virtual keypads and buttons that replace physical ones. The manufacturer can add new buttons or change the functionality of the buttons by updating the phone’s firmware.

The point is software updates can bring new or enhanced functionality to hardware and thereby increase the product lifecycle. But that doesn’t make the hardware obsolete-proof.

And there are physical limitations. Memory has a finite capacity. New ports and circuits can’t be installed on old devices. Wireless technology evolves and new radio chips are developed. Data transmission speeds increase and new bus interfaces emerge. Controller chips get more intelligent.

But this is all food for thought, nevertheless.