Hyderabad Company Four Soft signs contract with Jacobson: reinforces SCM Solution Provider

  
  Hyderabad, December 1st: Four Soft (4S), a global leader in offering software solutions for the Logistics and Transportation industry, announced the signing of a significant contract with Jacobson Companies today. Jacobson is one of the leading 3rd party Logistics service providers in the US.

Four Soft will implement its multimodal transport management system - 4S eTrans®, order management system - 4S Visilog®, Global customs solution - 4S eCustoms® and its business intelligence tool 4S Infotips across Jacobson locations globally.

This “best in class” combination will be crucial in streamlining mission critical operations at Jacobson, enabling them to comprehensively improve the already high level of services they provide to their customers.  The contract envisions an initial engagement, implementation and operational maintenance period of five years.

Jacobson was founded in 1968.  Today, they operate more than 35 million square feet of warehouse space in 35 states across the United States and employ approximately 7,000 people. Their extensive network includes 193 facilities worldwide with rapid growth in Asia and emerging markets around the globe.

Jacobson provides end-to-end supply chain solutions that include: warehousing & distribution, freight management, contract packaging & manufacturing, air & ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, deconsolidation & transloading. With their broad reach and proven expertise Jacobson delivers smart logistics and transportation solutions to customers around the globe.

Rajshekhar Roy, CEO, Four Soft, said: “Jacobson sees leveraging IT based solutions as a key catalyst for their ambitious growth plans.  Their rigorous search for a primary vendor for these solutions lead to them picking Four Soft from a wide range of solutions vendors.

Jacobson will deploy a stack of solutions from Four Soft covering its freight forwarding, customs, order management and visibility operations using Four Softs’ comprehensive dashboard and reporting framework. This clearly demonstrates Jacobson’s confidence in Four Softs’ ability to deliver enterprise wide mission critical solutions across complex global supply chains.

I am confident that the term of the engagement envisioned in the contract will be extended indefinitely, and the relationship will remain one of great mutual benefit.”  He further added, “We have already signed six major deals in the US this financial year. This clearly shows that we are a rapidly growing presence there.  The Jacobson engagement gives us the additional impetus to further extend our reach.”

4S eTrans® is designed and developed on the J2EE platform. It® is a multi modal transport management system with built in accounting features and interfaces that permit it to seamlessly integrate with a wide variety of enterprise applications. It comprehensively meets present requirements, and also anticipates several of the future challenges facing the global freight forwarding community.

It is designed and developed on technologies with a highly flexible architecture.  4S VisiLog® is an order management system linking the enterprise, business partners, associates, service providers & customers seamlessly based on user defined rules. It provides the enterprise end-to-end visibility over its entire value chain though its “anytime anywhere” Track and Trace capabilities.

 It incorporates features that can help with, execute, control and provide alerts on, all specified events in a defined automated work flow process. It is a web based application with native browser interface and multi lingual support.  4S eCustomsTM is global customs compliance solution, with plug and play modules for different countries, designed to work in a multicultural, multilingual environment, with interface capabilities with all Four Soft enterprise products and other standard ERP applications.

About Four Soft Limited

Four Soft is a public listed company which provides innovative software solutions, IT consultancy and BPO services exclusively for the logistics and supply-chain management market place. It is the market leader in the transportation and logistics segment with a large international client base including a large number of the top logistics & transportation companies in the world.

With regional offices strategically located worldwide, its customers include DHL, Schenker, Agility, UTI and Geodis Wilson amongst others.  Additional information about Four Soft is available at www.four-soft.com . Four Soft offers a full suite of web-native products across the logistics supply chain.

This includes 4S eTrans® for freight forwarding and logistics, 4S eLog® for extended warehouse management, 4S Visilog® & 4S VisiLog plus® for track & trace, visibility and supply-chain management, 4S eCustoms® for customs brokerage, 4S iShipping® for shipping line execution, 4S eConnect® for business-to-business connectivity and 4S Infotips for informed decision making.

Source:Adfactors PR 

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Growth in Web-Based Applications - Akamai Technologies, India

    Web Infrastructures and Web Applications

Bangalore, India-November 30, 2010: Akamai Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of cloud optimization services, in partnership with IDC, today unveiled the findings of the IDC Asia-Pacific Web Application Survey 2010 titled, "Prepare to Scale Your Web Infrastructure to Meet Imminent Growth in Cloud and Mobility."

This survey  is focused on trends driving demand for Web applications, and reveals that businesses have become dependent on the Internet for their daily operations.  The survey also outlines the challenges IT departments face as they strive to improve application performance and the end-user experience.

According to the survey results, Web applications delivered over the cloud will surge by 40% over the next 12 months and drive IT managers to further improve the performance of their Web infrastructures.  26% of the 423 organizations polled have experienced productivity issues due to poor access to Web applications.

David Kenny, President of Akamai said, “Organizations in the Asia Pacific region are increasingly turning to the Web to support their employees, customers and entire ecosystem of partners and suppliers.  Indian businesses are rapidly migrating more applications to the Web, and we can expect dramatic growth in Web application adoption over the coming year.

With this expected surge in Web-based application traffic, Indian organizations will need to leverage cloud-based solutions for ensuring the performance and scale of this mission-critical content.” Organizations were queried about their business expansion plans as well as the utilization of Internet and cloud-based computing for business functions.

Initial findings show incredible growth in the Asia-Pacific region – about 32% of the organizations polled across Asia-Pacific plan to set up branch offices over the next 12 months, with India leading with aggressive business expansion plans.  Such expansion will change the nature and complexion of the workforce.

With increased mobility and business agility, companies are able to expand their operations quickly and cost-effectively. According to Adrian Dominic Ho, principal for IDC's Asia-Pacific Practice Group covering Communications and Service research, and author of the IDC white paper, growth in extended enterprises will also contribute to the rise of the borderless world, resulting in a surge in Web application adoption.

One of the most challenging tasks IT managers will face is ensuring they deliver acceptable levels of Web application performance, and thus a superior user experience. With more than 50% of organizations currently conducting online transactions, the big growth areas over the next 12 months will be mobile access and streaming video.

For mobile access, organizations in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia are leading the region, with up to 86% of those in Malaysia expected to have mobile access to Web applications over the next 12 months.  In view of this, 20% of organizations across the region plan to give employees mobile access and support bandwidth-heavy streaming video applications over the same period.

One of the key reasons organizations invest heavily in Web applications is to empower their employees and build an extended enterprise.  Increased mobility means organizations have to think about providing employees easy access to corporate applications, regardless of their location.

Greater workforce mobility, growing adoption of mobile technology for business use; and recent improvements in centralized visibility, management, and control of mobile costs, have rendered mobility an inexpensive and important strategic asset for many organizations.

One of the key factors driving the growth in enterprise mobility is the proliferation of smart devices, which give employees ubiquitous access to business applications.  In the region, IDC expects smart phone penetration to reach 100% by 2015 in the mature markets, while emerging markets will require a further two to three years.

Cloud services have been one of the most-discussed technologies over the last 12 to 24 months. The number of applications that will be delivered via the cloud is expected to increase by 40% over the next 12 months, albeit from a low base.  ANZ and Singapore are leading with having corporate applications delivered over the cloud today.

India is expected to experience a doubling in cloud adoption, with the proportion of applications being delivered over the cloud expected to surge by 100% over the next 12 months. Top Issues Faced by Organizations

Across India, security concerns continue to dominate with more than 15% of respondents citing this as their top concern, as more data-sensitive applications are made available online.  More importantly, security teams often find it challenging to keep up with the increase in security vulnerability, as more applications are added onto the Web.

Other top concerns across the region were poor performance of Web applications, an inability to access rich media applications, delays in rolling out rich content applications, and the inability to efficiently share files.

Future Outlook Web application delivery

According to IDC, the application delivery market will experience another year of innovation and market expansion.  To meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities, organizations must be prepared with a strategy and commitment to deliver higher levels of application performance to the expanding branch offices and growing pool of mobile or remote workers.

With the era of the pervasive cloud upon us, organizations also need to acknowledge that further adoption of cloud services, mobility, video, and social media will place greater pressure on Web infrastructures.  However, there is no better time than now to have a concrete, strategic plan and road map for Web application delivery.

About Akamai

Akamai® provides market-leading, cloud-based services for optimizing Web and mobile content and applications, online HD video,and secure e-commerce.  Combining highly-distributed, energy-efficient computing with intelligent software, Akamai's global platform is transforming the cloud into a more viable place to inform, entertain, advertise, transact and collaborate. 

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Educomp will set up a University in Hyderabad next year in close vicinity of the Indian School of Business (ISB)

     Mumbai, November 29th, 2010: The company, which is in talks with six North-American and British Universities for a partnership, will set up the first phase on 50 acres of land at the cost of Rs 200 crore. Core Projects has acquired 194 acres of land for Rs 130 crore for the university at Gachiboli, Andhra Pradesh, in close vicinity of the Indian School of Business (ISB).

“If India has to reap demographic dividends over the next few decades, there will have to be nationwide availability of reputed higher education institutions that deliver high quality post graduate courses in various professions.

Our foray into higher education will be driven by this national need and will be supplemented by our technological expertise and our intimate relationships with American and British Institutions of Higher Learning,” Sanjeev Mansotra, CMD Core Projects and Technologies. Core says its collaboration with an international institute will help it build a seamless campus in India. While infrastructure would be provided by Core, the campus would be that of a foreign university.

The company is awaiting the Parliamentary nod to the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill. Ernst & Young, a professional services organizations, is drawing up the plan for the company. “By February 2011 we would be clear who will be our partners. The campus will be up and running by March 2012,” added Mansotra.

The university, to begin with, will offer professional courses like post graduate diploma in management, hospitality and computer application and engineering and weekend courses for professionals. It is targeting a total student strength of 4500. Core, which was founded in 2003, is present in seven states in India; 20 states in the US; 40 institutions in the UK; 8 African and 3 Caribbean nations.

The company, listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and with a market valuation of over Rs 3,000 crore, offers products and solutions spanning across -K12 (Kindergarten to 12), higher education; vocational training courses and teacher training.

The Core Projects has also planned a foray into the school management business. It is expected to invest Rs 150 crore for setting up schools over the next three years. These schools are divided into three - K-12 schools targeting tier I cities; IB schools targeting the IB school population and traditional K-12 schools for tier II and tier III cities.

“We have earmarked Rs 400 crore for the schools. While Rs 150 crore will be from internal accruals, Rs 250 crore will be raised via debt as and when the projects are finalised,” added Mansotra. Chennai-based Everonn Education and Educomp Solutions, two companies which are also technology provider to educational institutions, have laid out education plans for their companies.

While Everonn Education plans to open 300 schools over the next five years at a total investment of Rs 3,600 crore. Everonn has also firmed up plans to open around 25 B-schools across the country in the next few years with an investment of around Rs 250 crore.

Everonn also offers teacher training and courses in hospitality and animation and gaming education in association with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Delhi-based Educomp Solutions, another technology service provider to educational institutions, has also ventured across education spectrum-primary, vocational, professional, test preparation and higher.

Educomp has also partnered with 14 state governments covering over 14,500 government schools and benefiting 7.9 million students.The company through its Raffles Millennium International brand, offers courses in creative arts, design, lifestyle and business management.

It would soon venture into offering courses in law, paramedics and engineering through its Millennium Academy of Professional Studies. The academy will be launched next year. “We do not have any plans to establish a university at present as we are looking at professional courses.

We are offering management programmes in various subjects on a smaller scale. We sought approval from the All India Council for Technical Education and tied up with local education partners to offer the courses,” said an official from Educomp Solutions.

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What is your Unique Selling Proposition or USP? Indian Students is Important to the World Universities!

   New Delhi, 29th November:  Why do you want Indian students at your institute?

Our purpose is to build partnerships with Indian institutions in those subject areas in which UAD is in a leading position such as: creative industries (digital media, computer games, computer arts, software engineering); environmental sciences (biotechnology and civil engineering), etc.

Our long-term goal is academic collaboration to enhance our students’ experience and research potential by working with partners to understand the Indian higher educational sector and cooperate in the exciting expansion of higher education currently being planned by the Indian government.

How is India important to you as a country?
With its plans to develop 800 new universities and several thousand institutions of vocational learning in the next 10 years, plus there is India’s anticipated economic growth of 9 per cent per annum; India is important to the world — a country which we in Scotland must partner if we are to stay competitive.

Which are your most popular programmes?
UAD’s leading position is in the computer games and related digital media subjects. UAD is the Centre of Excellence for computer games education in the country and our association with corporates in this sector has been acknowledged by the Scottish and UK governments through their major investments in the university. But of course as a comprehensive university we also have popular programmes in biomedical and biotechnology sciences.

Any new initiatives?
We have an MoA with MIT Pune in computer games/arts related subjects and have recently signed one with IIIT Allahabad in Information Technology and many more subjects. We are also working with MIT on links with their various management schools.

What is your Unique Selling Proposition or USP?
High quality education producing graduates who create their own businesses as well as being valuable employees.

Are you thinking of any scholarships for Indian or international students?
Yes, we are presently developing a range of scholarships that will reward excellence. A formal announcement will be made in the next few weeks.

With the foreign education Bill in the pipeline, do you plan to open a full-fledged campus in India?
There is discussion on some developments although you will understand if at present we cannot go into detail. However, it is worth remembering that UAD is the leading UK university in an extremely important sector to the developing Indian economy and education sector- the digital creative media.

I am therefore hopeful that we will be playing an important role as the government in India further progresses its dynamic plans for 14 innovation universities.

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Indian students represent 15% of all international students in US higher Education

    GMAT and TOEFL Tests are More Taken by Indian Students

Chennai, 30th Nov: Recession, economic downturn and job cuts notwithstanding, the craze for studying abroad has not waned among Indian students if some finding are to be believed. Not only did enrollment of Indians in US universities go up by 2 per cent this year, more Indians are taking the GMAT and TOEFL examinations with a view to joining universities abroad than from any other country.

The largest number of foreign applications received for admission to nearly two-third of the US full-time MBA programmes were from Indian students - only one fifth of the programmes received more applications from Chinese students - according to GMAC, an international association of business schools and owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).

TOEFL administrators said that India consistently represents one of the top five countries with the largest numbers of TOEFL test takers. “We have seen a 5% increase in the number of Indian TOEFL test-takers,” an official spokesperson said.

Further, the Institute of International Education that releases its annual Open Doors report on international education, said: “Students from India increased by 2% to a total of nearly 105,000. Indian students represent 15% of all international students in US higher education.

Together, the top three sending countries-China, India and South Korea-comprise nearly half (44%) of the total international enrollments in U S  higher education.”   In 2010, Canadian graduate management programs received the largest number of foreign applications from Indian citizens.

The increased demand for MBA course could be because of the fact that nine in 10 MBA alumni from the class of 2010 had managed to land jobs three months after graduation. The results represent a slight improvement from 2009, when 84 percent of new MBA alumni said they were employed three months after receiving their degrees.

The MBA graduates of 2010 also said that they received higher starting salaries than their counterparts from the class of 2009, according to the GMAC Alumni Perspectives Survey.

The median starting salary for 2010 graduates was US$78,819, up from US$75,000 for those who graduated in 2009.  Students graduating in 2010 were significantly more optimistic about the economy in general compared with last year’s graduates

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