express india magazine

THE SOFTWARE IS THE NETWORK

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In our increasingly connected lives, we tend to take the network forgranted. Irrespective of which network we might be usingwireless,local, remotewhat matters is this: it should be on, fast and hassle-

free (in terms of our switching between networks, setting them up, etc.)A slew of upgrades and innovations, however, are needed to keep the

network buzzing with data, voice or video. The changes are necessary totake care of the growing load of traffic on networks and to keep TCP/IP(the networking protocol of the Internet and most other networks) fromreaching a break point. (It has been reported time and again that theInternet needs to be overhauled if it is to continue to serve the flood ofconnected devices15 billion by 2015 as per an estimate.)

Among the hottest acronyms doing the round in networking is SDN,which stands for software-defined networking. As the name suggests, itallows admins to program and control the network without requiringaccess to the network's hardware devices. According to Wikipedia, theSDN movement had its beginning in research done around 2005 at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.

It is believed that the old way of programming and managing thenetworks, in which several proprietary protocols and boxes add to theoverall complexity, will give way to a more open and robust way throughtechnologies such as SDN.

Another development that is taking place alongside SDN is an open-source protocol for remotely managing networking equipment calledOpenFlow. Both SDN and OpenFlow are managed and propagated by auser-driven organization called Open Networking Foundation (membersinclude Brocade, Cisco, Ericsson, Facebook, Google, HP, IBM, Intel,Microsoft and several others).

Given that the early adopters of SDN are large cloud companies such asGoogle and Facebook, it is likely that SDN adoption will accelerate as moreand more workloads shift to the cloud.

According to market researcher IDC, the SDN ecosystem will reach amarket size of $3.7 billion by 2016, representing as much as 35% of theEthernet switching market (up from virtually nothing in 2012).

However, a Forrester report cautions that for SDN's full value to berealized, organizations will need a large upfront investment instandardizing processes and infrastructure as well as changes toorganizational structures, skills and sourcing. Networking teams firstneed to master virtualization before they are able to take on and benefitfrom SDN.

Having said that, there seems hardly any doubt that the future ofnetworking, just as in the case of computing and mobile phones, is going tobe defined by software.

[email protected]

THE OLD WAY OFPROGRAMMINGAND MANAGINGTHE NETWORKSWILL GIVE WAYTO A MORE OPENAND ROBUSTWAY THROUGHTECHNOLOGIESSUCH AS SDN

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EXPRESS COMPUTER AUGUST 1-15, 2013 3

COVER STORY

EXPRESS COMPUTER4

CFOsWARM UPTO NEWTECHTechnologies such as cloud,virtualization and BYOD arefinding favor with CFOs acrossindustries and changing thetraditional IT budgeting process

ENHANCING CUSTOMEREXPERIENCECustomers who have a positiveexperience of interacting with abusiness are more likely to stay loyalto it.Here are some best practicesenterprises will do well to adopt

case study

contents

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feature 32

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TAXING, THE EASY WAYWipro helps Daman & Diu tax department shoreup its earning by 37% by deploying VATsoft, ane-filing system for commercial taxes

BEAMING THE RIGHT WAVE Wave Cinemas has upgraded its projectors from2K to 4K in order to offer higher resolution andbetter movie-viewing experience

CONVERGENCENETWORKING:

The macro trends of convergence, virtualization,cloud, mobility and video are driving evolution of networksto meet higher uptime and bandwidth requirements

BY HEENA JHINGAN

AHEAD

AUGUST 1-15, 2013

CLASS ONTHE CLOUD

How Classle leveraged AWS cloud to deliver education to rural students in a

cost effective and scalable way


21 35

PRASHANT RANADE CEO & President,Syntel

Clients expect apartner that canhelp transform their business

ALAN ATKINSON Vice president and General Manager,Storage, Dell

We are going muchmore down thesoftware enabled path

41

DMITRI CHEN Vice President, EMC Backupand Recovery Practice,AsiaPacific and Japan

Indian telcos need to be ready for telematics

44

N MURALIDARAN CEO,NSE Info Tech Services

Adopting the new systemhelped us moveahead of the curve

SAP partners with Esri to offer

real-time spatial data analysis

with HANA

SafeNet signs pact with

Senetas Security

Acer announces Intels Haswell

architecture based product

portfolio

LG launches video

conferencing endpoints

Manthan Systems introduces

analytics for personalized

promotions

Compuware unveils new

generation APM solutions

NetApp expands to tier-II cities

across India

ZTE launches new

smartphones and data card

portfolio

OneOcean opens ClipCard

Technology center in India

Cover story

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interviews

in the newsTHE CAMPUSWEARS TECHThe New Age educationalcampuses flaunt theirtechyensemble to clickwith the tech savvygeneration of students.

THE NEWSTYLE OF HP

event

PUSHING THEBOUNDARIES OFTHEWORKPLACE

column

EXPRESS COMPUTER AUGUST 1-15, 20136

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CONVERGENCENETWORKING:

AHEAD

The macro trends of convergence, virtualization, cloud,mobility and video are driving evolution of networks tomeet higher uptime and bandwidth requirements

BY HEENA JHINGAN

Anetwork is no longer just aboutthrowing together cables,switches, routers and otherboxes and connectors. As anynetworking pro or CIO would

know, stitching together an enterprisenetwork today requires meticulousplanning.

Increasingly, networking is one bit ofthe IT infrastructure that requires to bemore futuristic. It is definitely notsomething that enterprises, irrespectiveof size, can afford to rip and replace with

every technological development.Networks, thus, evolve with technology.

The present-day networks are at acritical stage of evolution, asvirtualization, cloud, mobility and big datalead the IT trends. The convergedsystems approach that is currently beingfollowed in data centers involvescombining server, storage, and networksystems together, along with the softwareto manage them. This trends is on thecards across data centers. Though at anascent market at present, IDC predicts

that converged systems with a growthrate of 54% per year will account forover one-third of enterprise clouddeployments in 2016.

Analysts believe since networking iscomposite term, it is difficult to gauge thegrowth of every component in isolation.Research firm Gartner pegs the Indian ITinfrastructure market covering server,storage and networking equipment toreach $2.1 billion in 2013. As per theresearch agency, the new data centerimplementations to meet convergence

COVER STORY


54%G R O W T H R AT E

IDC predicts that convergedsystems with a growth rate of54% per year will account for

over one-third of enterprisecloud deployments in 2016.



COVER STORY


10G ETHERNET ISBECOMING THE DEFACTO STANDARDFOR SERVER-STORAGECOMMUNICATION.SUBHASHINIRAMAKRISHNAN,CHIEFTECHNOLOGY MANAGER, DAXNETWORKS

CAMPUS LANS AREMOVING TO AVIRTUALDESKTOPWORLDWHERE RELIABILITYAND HIGH-PERFORMANCENETWORKS WILLBE KEYIN DELIVERINGPROPER LEVELOFSERVICES.K P UNNIKRISHNAN,APAC MARKETING DIRECTOR, BROCADECOMMUNICATIONS

and virtualization needs, combined withcampus upgrades, and growing adoptionof multimedia applications and mobility,are driving the networking market.

Future demand and dynamics of thenetworking market will also be heavilyinfluenced by these trends as theyintensify, and other disruptivetechnologies like cloud, social and big datatake center stage, says Naresh Singh,Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.

The data center managers are undertremendous pressure to keep theirnetworks up and running at all times,reduce expensive downtime, conform tobudget and reduce energy usage in theirnetworks, while planning for theirnetworks upgrade path. This coupledwith the rapid growth of virtualization,cloud and mobility has further escalatedthe pressures on them.

Today, both employees as well ascompany visitors expect seamless

connectivity, this further adds to thecapacity burdens on the existingenterprise network both at the core andthe campus.

The core and campusAt the core or the data center layer,virtualization has set its foot and is here tostay. Virtualization has become thecatalyst of change, leading to changeshappening across compute, storage andsecurity. A large number of enterprisedata centers in India have attainedvirtualization up to 60% or higher.

Virtualization changes the basicpattern of traffic in the network,Amandeep Singh Dang, Country Manager,Dell Networking explains. In the pastalmost 70% of networking traffic followeda north-south pattern in tiered pattern,which is now altered to follow east-westmovement across servers.

There are multiple effects of server

VIRTUALIZATION HAS BECOME THE CATALYST OF CHANGE,LEADING TO CHANGES HAPPENING ACROSS COMPUTE,STORAGE AND SECURITY

virtualization on thephysical layer. First,virtualizationeliminates a lot ofdiscrete serverhardware so therewill be fewerindividualnetworkconnections particularlyGigabit twisted paircopper connections.Second, hardwarethat is operating manyvirtualized servers willneed higher bandwidthconnections to both Ethernet andstorage area networks.

The modern day data centers areleveraging more and more IT servicesthrough the cloud, which again isdependent on a robust network. Also, anincreased uptake of video is compellingthe CIOs to revisit their networkingstrategies.

Some years back the enterpriseslooked at converging the voice and datafor services like VoIP and now thenetworks need to geared up for videodisruption, so there is need for improvedbandwidth in the data center, saysPrakash Krishnamoorthy, CountryManager, HP Networking India.

10G Ethernet connectivity is becomingthe need across verticals, be it telecom,education , BFSI or healthcare for thatmatter. Subhashini Ramakrishnan, ChiefTechnology Manager, Dax Networks,says, 10G Ethernet is becoming the defacto standard for server-storagecommunication. With servers and storagegrowing in capacities, performance andworkload, there is need for equally largeaccess pipes to support the system.

On the campus end, there could be twosituations either the data center iswithin the building or it is extended to thepremise. Experts say with mobility andBYOD being unavoidable trends, wirelessconnectivity is equally important as arobust wireline.

Krishnamoorthy reasons that sincemobile devices like smartphones andtablets do not have Ethernet ports,wireless is the obvious approach to

connect these. We seeenterprises

augmenting thenumber of portsto provide clientconnectivity.The trafficbetween thedata center andthe clientdepends on the

strength of WANor LAN.

Since the usersat the branch

locations demand aframework for

collaboration, and sameresponse time as the head office, theenterprises are now investing routingproducts that help in band acceleration,notes Prem Nithin, BusinessDevelopment Manager, BorderlessNetworks Sales, Cisco India & SAARC.

According to a recent survey byBrocade, 10 15% of all end points incampus LAN can be virtualized. CampusLANs are moving to a virtual desktopworld where reliability and high-performance networks will be key indelivering proper level of services, uptimeand maintenance to support widely variedworkloads, points out K.P. Unnikrishnan,APAC Marketing Director, BrocadeCommunications.

Of switches and routersWith virtualization coming into play, theswitches have become denser and smaller,in turn saving floor space and powerconsumption in a data center.

This may mean a shift from many GigEthernet ports to a fewer number of 10Gigports and a shift from many 4Gig FiberChannel ports to a fewer number of 8 or16Gig ports. As a result of this, distributedswitching architectures such as Top-of-Rack and Middle- or End-of-Row areprevalent in highly virtualized servers,explains Mylaraiah J N, CountryManager-Technical & Marketing, TEIndia Enterprise Networks.

Krishnamoorthy of HP points out,The enterprises are focusing on smart,managed switches. Most of theenterprises were using 10G switch to



ENTERPRISESSHOULD PUTTHEIRMONEY ONNETWORKINGSOLUTIONS THATSUPPORTMULTI-VENDORORCHESTRATIONAND SMOOTH SCAL E-IN ANDSCALE-OUT.AMANDEEP SINGH DANG,COUNTRY MANAGER, DELLNETWORKING

NETWORKS SHOULDBE INTELLIGENTENOUGH TOIDENTIFYPRIORITYAPPLICATIONS AND DEVICES.PREM NITHIN,BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER,BORDERLESS NETWORKS SALES,CISCO INDIA & SAARC

$3.7BILLION

THE MARKETSIZE THATSDN WILLREACH BY2016,

ITWILLALSO ACCOUNTFOR 35%OFTHE ETHERNETSWITCHING

MARKET,UPFROM THENEGLIGIBLE PENETRATION

IN 2012

aggregate at the core, they are nowinvesting in 40G to prepare for thefuture.

Ciscos Nithin seconds his thought. Hesays the networks need to be intelligent. Itshould be able to identify priorityapplications and devices. For example itshould be able to recognize bandwidthhungry applications like video and initiateauto-provisioning for the priority devices.

According to IDC, the growth in theEthernet switch market will largely comefrom 10GbE and 40GbE in the comingyears. The 4Q12 results of IDC show thatthe Ethernet switch market wasparticularly strong in Asia/Pacific(excluding Japan) with 15.6% year-over-year growth. Gigabit Ethernet is holdingon to growth wagon largely in campus,aggregation, and network edgedeployments.

Amidst all these developments, Dangsays, the good news is that the cost per gighas become more rational. Even asnumber of employees now does notnecessarily mean number ofinterconnects, BYOD has changed thatconcept. The employees could be carryingmore than one device and they may not becompany provided. The latest productshave brought value to switching solutionsthat too at a more optimized cost.

As per market research firmInfonetics Research, the global enterpriserouter market is set to reach US $5.0billion by 2017. With the rise in cloudservices adoption, the firm does not seethe buyers on a sustainable path with low-end routers at the branch, and it expectsthem to shift their spending back tobranch and mid-range routers.

HPs Krishnamoorthy observes twoclear patterns. He says, At the lower endwe see penetration of routers thatsupport SIM (preferrebly two activeSIMs) as then there is no need to buy thedongles and with two active SIMs, we canensure uninterrupted connectivity.

On the higher end, the enterprisesdemand router solutions that can supportband optimization and deal with latency.

The cable tangleSome industry players believe thattechnology innovations like virtualization,cloud and mobility have more impact on

active networking devices like switches,but the structured cabling industry, whichis basically passive cabling, is notimpacted by these technology drifts.However, speed and bandwidth continueto be the key factors influencing thisindustry. Customers are looking beyondthe ability to manage only the patchingfield / wiring closet.

The boom in data centers has alsoraised the bar on technology. Cat 6 systemin copper forms the default choice of thecustomer with single-mode and OM3seeing increased deployment. Customersare also aware of the need to deployhigher spec solutions e.g. Cat6A to futureproof their network for high speedapplications such as 10 G (on copper).

Increased installations of Cat6A havebeen witnessed in telecom andinfrastructure projects that have scaled-up in structured cabling deployments.The older establishments that were onunstructured cabling are migrating tostructured cabling when they renovate orupgrade their facilities. Uptake of 10Gsystems is on the increase, generally bythe larger enterprises that are looking toimplement the latest cabling technologyto ensure longevity. Power over Ethernet(PoE) is used for security applications inverticals like BFSI, but hasnt yet beenadopted across large enterprises due toits limited capacity currently.

Martin Isaac, Manager Marketing India/Asean, Molex India Private Limited(Premise Networks Division) explains,Fiber is still primarily used for backboneapplications despite the improvedviability of fiber as a to-the-desk solutionwith the ever decreasing cost of activeequipment. Traditionally, installing fiberin the field has always been an expensiveoption based on the time needed and thenecessary fusion equipment. However,the continued demand for bandwidth willultimately lead to increased opportunitiesfor fiber and the development of pre-terminated fiber solutions, where there isno need for on-site termination will nodoubt increase uptake.

OM3 (standard for multimode opticalfiber) is a cost effective option for datacenters as it delivers 40G under 100meters. That means OM3 can do1G/10G/40G. OM4 would be the option to

COVER STORY


DISTRIBUTEDSWITCHINGARCHITECTURESSUCH AS TOP-OF-RACK AND MIDDLE-OR END-OF-ROWARE PREVALENT INHIGHLYVIRTUALIZEDSERVERS.MYLARAIAH J N,COUNTRY MANAGER - TECHNICAL &MARKETING,TE INDIA ENTERPRISENETWORKS

INCREASEDINSTALLATIONS OFCAT6A HAVE BEENWITNESSED INTELECOM ANDINFRASTRUCTUREPROJECTS

implement if lengths are over 100 meters.He feels OM3 is a good option as the

standards stands today. With talk of thestandards potentially moving from40G/100G to 400Gb/1Tb in the future, thismay change and OM4 may become thepreferred standard. However, this has notcommenced yet, or indeed been ratified.

Each time a new standard is releasedwe hear that fiber will replace copper as aplatform of choice. With the release of the40G/100G standard we see that theallowable copper length currently is 7meters. This, combined with issue of aliencross talk, implies that theimplementation of copper platforms athigher performance rates is becomingincreasingly difficult. We may see thetipping point when copper tries to reachbeyond 100G, he says.

Mylaraiah of TE India observes thatthe industry is moving towards IPconvergence with uptake of IP videosurveillance for digital securityapplications. IP convergence means thatthe cable media will be either twisted pairor Fiber versus Coaxial. Using the twistedpair of fiber means more savings in spaceand cost.

However, he says that the challengebefore the industry is not delivery oftechnology but that of skilled man-powerin structured cabling realm. This is evenmore difficult when it comes to 10G &above networks.

It is important to note that thoughstructured cabling may constitute only 5%of the total network cost, but poorinstallation can render the mostsophisticated active network devicecompletely useless. Another challenge isthat of upward growth in the price of

copper. This is a cause of concern as it willadd to cost of copper cables andultimately the cost of the network, headds.

The next genAs size of networks grows and largecustomers implement offices acrossmultiple locations, management ofnetworks is bound to become critical.

Sajan Paul, Director SystemsEngineering India & SAARC, JuniperNetworks, says, The networkingindustry has come a long way and 40/100Gig uplinks are quite common today.However, a key challenge in the networksis building the ability to scale in and outwhen required.

Dang of Dell Networking agrees. Heemphasizes on the need for enterprises inputting their money in networkingsolutions that support multi-vendororchestration and smooth scale in andscale out.

To crack the manageability nut, theindustrys eyes are on Software-definedNetworking (SDN). SDN comes with acontrol layer that sits between theinfrastructure and the application layerand can give software as well as hardwarerelated controls to the network manager.

IDC predicts 2013 to be the year oftransition of SDNs from market hype intoreality, with enterprise datacenter andcloud provider use cases coming tomarket and getting deployed and with thisbeing the first full year of networkvirtualization, OpenFlow,and SDNapplications. The SDN ecosystem,including the associated networkinfrastructure, will grow at an exponentialpace, reaching a market size of $3.7 billionby 2016, and account for a remarkable 35%share of the Ethernet switching market inthe data center, up from almost negligiblepenetration in 2012.

The research firm foresees major ITand networking vendorsincludingCisco, Juniper, Brocade, Citrix, HP, Dell,and IBMcontinuing their shoppingsprees for SDN technologies. Industrywatchers expect SDN to also get asignificant push from the mandate toswitch to Ipv6.

[email protected]



THE CONTINUEDDEMAND FORBANDWIDTH WILLULTIMATELYLEADTO INCREASEDOPPORTUNITIESFOR FIBER.MARTIN ISAAC,MANAGER MARKETING INDIA/ASEAN, MOLEX INDIA PVT.LTD. (PREMISE NETWORKSDIVISION)

MOST OFTHEENTERPRISESUSING 10GSWITCHES TOAGGREGATE ATTHE CORE,ARENOW INVESTINGIN 40G.PRAKASHKRISHNAMOORTHY,COUNTRY MANAGER, HPNETWORKING INDIA

FEATURE NETWORKING


THECAMPUSWEARSTECH

The New Age educational campuses flaunttheir techy ensemble to click with the techsavvy generation of students. Heres a look atthe networking wardrobe changes it involves

BY HEENA JHINGAN

There is a pedagogical shift in theway students learn today. Thetraditional classroom of desks,notebooks, pencils, and blackboard

is gradually giving way to an online forumof computers, apps, and the Internet.

Welcome to Education 2.0, whereonline publishing and sharing tools willmake a lasting impact on the future ofeducation. Though the version 2.0 is stillin fancy in India, the higher educationsector is fast embracing ICT practices to

compete with global institutions. Thenew age educational campuses flaunttheir techy environs with blanket Wi-Ficoverage and sophisticatedadministrative IT tools to click with thetech savvy and brand consciousgeneration of students.

A large number of Indian universitiesare now using technologies such asvideoconferencing, learningmanagement systems and cloudcomputing for better presentation and

delivery of content. This has to ride on astrong IT infrastructure. The institutionsare thus pumping in money to set-uprobust network infrastructure capable ofsuch delivery. Gone are the days of basicinternet connectivity. The educationalcampus networks sport enterprise-classfeatures, right from 24x7 connectivityand Wi-Fi coverage to multi-devicesupport. That is a clear indication thatthere is a significant change in the waythese institutions bought their switches,

EXPRESS COMPUTER 15


AUGUST 1-15, 2013


FEATURE NETWORKING

servers, cables and other networkinghardware and software.

According to technology marketresearcher IDC, about 5% of the $40billion IT market in India, includinghardware, software and IT services, wasin the education sector. The market isexpected to grow at nearly 12% through2017.

A CII-PWC report finds that, while thepositive impact of information andcommunication technology (ICT) in theareas of delivery and collaboration hasbeen long established, higher educationalinstitutes are increasingly experiencingthe benefits of using ICT tools for studentand administrative management.

Higher education institutions in Indiaare increasingly grappling with twomajor problems. First, their financialreliance on the government has beenreduced and second, they have to reachout to the masses. There is usually adirect trade-off between finances andexpansion for social inclusion, sincehigher education is typically veryexpensive in terms of human, operationaland capital expenditure.

A paper of the Kerala state highereducation council (2012) observes thatthe higher education spending in India isonly 1.1% of GDP. The US spends 3.1% ofits GDP on higher education while SouthKorea spends 2.4% of its GDP.

With more private and foreignuniversities entering the fray, highereducation has become a highlycompetitive sector.

According to Calsoft Labs, the use ofICT for promoting education anddevelopment has always been a part ofpolicy and plan documents on education.At the moment, the decision makers atboth central and state are favoringinclusion of new computer and internetbased IT/ ICT in education (adoptingcloud based virtualclassrooms/universities.

The Government of India hasimplemented several national as well asstate specific schemes that runconcurrent to large number of privatelyled IT initiatives at school and highereducation levels. However there issignificant disparity in ICT usagebetween institutions in urban areas and

those in semi-urban/rural parts of thecountry. The quality of ICT infrastructureand its use is limited in a large percentageof autonomous/affiliated collegesespecially due to lack of trained IT staff,connectivity issues and shortage of funds.

The National Mission on Educationthrough Information andCommunication Technology (NMEICT)is envisaged as a centrally sponsoredscheme to leverage the potential ofIT/ICT, in teaching and learning processfor the benefit of all the learners inHigher Education Institutions in any -time any - where mode. Contentgeneration and connectivity, along withprovision for access devices forinstitutions and learners are the majorcomponents of the mission.

So far, over 400 universities have beenprovided 1 Gbps connectivity or havebeen configured under the scheme andmore than 14,000 colleges have also beenprovided VPN connectivity, as perCalsoft Labs.

The National Knowledge Network(NKN) and Connected Digital haslaunched an initiative to cover 1,000institutions besides providing digitalcampuses, video - conferenceclassrooms, wireless hotspots,laptops/desktops to all students ofprofessional/ science courses and Wi-Ficonnectivity in hostels.

The enterprise classDriven by competition, institutions aretaking the IT route to focus on coreacademic by automating administrativeactivities that are resource and timeconsuming. Education institutions todayare behaving more enterprise-like andtheir IT needs to reflect this change.

Learning Management Systems(LMS), ERP, Library ManagementSystems, CRM, analytics etc., supportedby a robust network are all gainingpopularity in higher education space.

No wonder Mother Teresa WomensUniversity recently deployed IBManalytics solution to promote academicsuccess by training their managementstudents on predictive analysis andreporting solutions.

Like enterprises, the educationalinstitutions too witnessing the BYOD

THE EDUCATIONSECTOR NEEDS TOBE ABREASTWITH THETECHNOLOGICALSHIFTTHAT ISHAPPENING.J.S. SODHI,ASSISTANTVICE PRESIDENT,AMITY GROUP

FOR IT MANAGERS,BYOD IS ABOUTSUPPORTING AVARIETY OFDEVICES,THEIROPERATINGSYSTEMS,ANDMAINTAINING ANEXPECTED LEVELOF SERVICE.PRADEEP JOSHI,ASSISTANT REGISTRAR - ITSERVICES AT SHARDA UNIVERSITY

menace. Under pressure from everincreasing IT applications and multipledevices, the campuses are focusing onmaking the networks future-ready tocope with the impending invasion of videoand other high bandwidth consumingapplications.

The IIT-Madras Campus is one suchexample whose network has evolved froma simple twisted pair telephone cablenetwork, to a 100% connected high speedcampus network on fiber backbone with afully functioning data center housing highperformance. It has even conducted a 10 Gigabit network upgrade withassistance from networking solutionsvendor Molex.

We look at some of the campuses tosee how they design their networks tokeep abreast of the trends of automation,e-learning, collaboration, networksecurity and mobility.

AMITY UNIVERSITYUnified networking for efficiency

Amity University is one the first few hi-tech educational institutions in India.With over 100 campuses and 85,000students, the group was striving for ICTinnovation to connect all its campusesthrough a unified network. Thus, the ITteam headed by Assistant Vice Presidentof the group J.S. Sodhi decided to rely onthe hub-spoke model IT networking withthe hub being at the Noida campus. All theother institutions of the group are spokesand connected to Amity-Noida via MPLS.

Sodhi explains that to be able toconnect all the campuses, they built anISO-27001 certified data center at theNoida hub and chose to rely on enterpriseclass Cisco 6500 Managed Switch andBlade Server. They also invested in EMCCelerra NS-350 Unified Storage System.

Back in 2011, the group deployed virtualdesktop solution from NComputing.

Amity has automated all itsoperations through the intranet; it hasan interactive intranet portal calledAmizone, a home grown ERP systemthat can be accessed by students, facultyand parents. The institution is a believerin the philosophy of change. Sodhi saysthat the organization recognizes the factthat education has evolved and it is nomore about blackboard and textbooks,the education sector needs to be abreastwith the technological shift that ishappening, and instead of treating as achallenge, efforts should be made toleverage it to improve the quality oflearning.

For this reason, we are not wary ofBYOD, we understand the role of Internetconnectivity in education. We arecompletely Wi-Fi enabled campuses. Inall, we have about 400 access points inthe hostel areas and 550 in the academicarea, so at Amity campus you will findseamless Wi-Fi coverage and not justhotspots, he says.

All this, is not possible without arobust network. Amity has wirelessbroadband internet connectivity withover 75 kms of fiber optic/LAN cablebackbone structure. Each student isprovided with a smart card for accesscontrol/e-wallet. It subscribes to 650Mbps bandwidth from multiple ISPs. Ofwhich, Sodhi says, only 450-500 Mbps isused on an average. The network issecured by MAC (messageauthentication code) authentication, onlyregistered devices can browse internet intheir network.

We have Saba Centra solution foreLearning platform and Moodle(Modular Object-Oriented DynamicLearning Environment), a free source e-learning software platform, that isconfigured for recorded lectures, courseflow etc. as a complete e-Learning



ACCORDING TO TECHNOLOGY MARKET RESEARCHER IDC,ABOUT 5% OFTHE $40 BILLION ITMARKET IN INDIA, INCLUDING HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND IT SERVICES,WAS IN THE EDUCATIONSECTOR.THE MARKET IS EXPECTED TO GROWAT NEARLY 12% THROUGH 2017.

FEATURE


NETWORKING

program, he informs.Over the years, they realized that the

campuses in the remote locations couldaccess richer academic content throughaudio video streaming. Sodhi decided toleverage the existing infrastructure.Instead of making a fresh investment, heintegrated e-learning software and over500 surveillance cameras, which areused for distance learning and generalsurveillance. The campuses at remotelocations can now benefit from guestlectures, and special sessions at metrolocations.

Sodhi credits this to the networkdesign they had adopted foreseeing thegrowing demand for audio-videostreaming, which is likely to grow in yearsahead.

SHARDA UNIVERSITYBeyond boundaries with a robustnetwork

Greater Noida-based Sharda Universityis a one of the emerging names in highereducation in India. Spread over about 63acres, the institution aspires to bring the

best of ICT practices to establish itself inthe Indian education landscape.

The university has a dedicated datacenter with Cisco 6500 switch and it hassecured its network using Cisco ASA 5510and Cisco 5520 Firewall for gatewaysecurity.

Pradeep Joshi, Assistant Registrar -IT Services at Sharda University sayswireline connectivity alone is a pass. Inan era where consumers be it students,teacher or parents demand access toinformation anytime and anywhere, it isinevitable to have a robust wireline andwireless infrastructure backbone thatcomes from setting up a reliable network.

The campus has connectivity fromBSNL (1 Gbps pipeline with 150 Mbps ofbandwidth) and CJ online (50 Mbps ofbandwidth) to cater the internetrequirements. The entire campus iscovered with seamless wirelessconnectivity using Cisco access points,controlled by central WiSM (wirelessservice module) installed in high endCisco 6509 E switch.

Over 350 indoor and 10 outdooraccess points are installed to provide the

wireless connectivity and are capable ofhandling the load of thousands ofconcurrent sessions. This is critical as amajority of the students prefer to carrydevices that they can connect with theinstitutions Wi-Fi to access data on thego, today some even carry more than oneof such devices, Joshi reasons.

He says, BYOD for users is ease of use,however for the IT managers, it is aboutsupporting a variety of devices, theiroperating systems, and maintaining anexpected level of service. We need to focuson better connectivity of Wi-Fi networks ineach class room, hostels and other campusareas. Though at present our bandwidthconsumption is not that high, weunderstand it is bound to spike with furtherautomation and video consumption.

Sharda University has 70 dome IPcameras and 5 PTZ cameras to monitorvarious buildings including differentschools of Sharda University, hostels andstaff quarters.

Last academic session, theorganization had automated andintegrated its Admission, Finance, HR,Inventory, Hostel Management andLibrary systems with Oracle PeopleSoftERP. The Oracle solution is meant to offerscalable online, self-service interface forthe institutions 6500 students, facultymembers and administrative staff. IBM Pseries Servers and IBM Storage have beendeployed to support the ERP system.

In an effort to support the e-Learningprogram we have a tied up with differentpublishers and e-library providers likeDelnet, Springer and Scopus. We are alsoin the process of deploying a LearningManagement System, Joshi says.

LOVELY PROFESSIONALUNIVERSITYPaperless efficiency and more

Sprawling over an area of 600 acres inPunjab, Lovely Professional University isa place of learning to over 25,000students. Projecting it as a technologydriven campus, the administrationswears by IT tools to usher paperlessefficiency.

Ashok Mittal, Chancellor, LovelyProfessional University says that rightfrom the institutions inception, the

HIGHER EDUCATION SPENDING IN INDIA IS ONLY 1.1% OF GDP.THE US SPENDS 3.1% OF ITS GDP ON HIGHER EDUCATION WHILESOUTH KOREA SPENDS 2.4% OF ITS GDP.



management unanimously conceivedmaking it a world-class education placeto bring best in class to the Indianstudents, and today we serve studentsfrom the country, and from across theworld.

To be a world-class set-up, we neededto keep pace with the trends in the globaleducation milieu, and we realized thattechnology was fast getting central toeducational system, and we had to bewith the time, Mittal says.

They set up their data center withabout 40 blade servers, which were laterscaled to 60 with Cisco catalyst 6509Ecore switch to provide the neededscalability and traffic control. Thenetworking solution was implemented byNortel.

Mittal informs that initially theyinvested in 40 km fiber backbone forproviding seamless connectivity, andtoday the coverage has been enhanced toabout 60 Kms.

We are a completely Wi-Fi campuswith about 1200 access points, supportedon technology from players like Ruckusand Cisco. With 624 Mbps of bandwidthfor internet from Reliance and Videocon,we believe we are fully equipped to meetnot only the data needs today, but also inthe future as well, he says.

Mittal adds that of the currentbandwidth capacity, they are using onlyabout 25%. Our network is robustenough to support about one lakhconcurrent sessions, we have about30,000 students, we would still becomfortably placed even if each studentcarries more than one device, hereasons.

With about 15 libraries, they follow aring topology, where all of them areconnected to each other, enablingstudents to self check-in and check-out.

Reiterating the organizations faith inIT tools for smooth functioning, Mittalsays that to begin with they consideredbuying ERP solutions from the likes ofSAP and Oracle, however, they hadgreater expectations.

They engaged a 40-member team todevelop a University ManagementSystem (UMS), customized to theirrequirements. They implemented aLearning Management System (LMS)

and a Relationship Management System(RMS) as well.

He concludes by saying, We havetaken utmost care in making our networkscalable yet secure.

INDIAN STATISTICALINSTITUTEStructuring IT right

As a part of an IT upgrade, IndianStatistical Institute wanted a networkinfrastructure that would meet all itsneeds for 20 years or more. It chose todeploy 10G copper and fiber solutionsfrom CommScope Systimax portfolio,coupled with VisiPatch patching solution.

Headquartered on a 30 acre site in thenorthern suburbs of Kolkata, the IndianStatistical Institute focuses on projectsand consultancy in statistical qualitycontrol and operations research. Most ofthe Institutes 255 academic staff is basedin Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore where ithas 110 undergraduates, 225 postgraduates and 40 doctoral students Italso has offices in Chennai and Tezpur.

The IT team of the institute specifiedthe new infrastructure that it wanted, tomeet all the institutes needs for at leasttwo decades to come. So, although thenetwork was initially specified with100Mbps and 1Gbps switches, theconnectivity requirement was for datatransmission at up to 10Gbps.

A longer effective life means paybackon infrastructure investment can bespread over more years, lowering theoverall annual cost of ownership, says,Amitava Datta, Head of Department,Computer & Statistical Services Centrein Kolkata. So, we needed structuredcabling with performance that couldmeet all the data transmission needs offuture academic and administrativeapplications.

Amitava Datta and his team wantedhigh performance and reliability that wasbacked by solid guarantees andapplication assurances. They also wanteda supplier who would offer a detailedinfrastructure design proposal anddemonstrate its effectiveness as part ofthe tendering process.

To meet all these requirements, theteam chose a solution designed and

THE 10G COPPERAND FIBERCABLING CHOSENBYTHE INDIANSTATISTICALINSTITUTE WILLMEET ITS NETWORKPERFORMANCENEEDS FORDECADES TOCOME.NATARAJANVISWANATHAN,MD, INDIA & SAARC, COMMSCOPE

WE HAVE TAKENUTMOST CARE INMAKING OURNETWORKSCALABLE YETSECURE.ASHOK MITTAL,CHANCELLOR, LOVELYPROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

FEATURE


NETWORKING

installed by IBM India. The solutionincluded CommScopes GigaSPEEDX10D UTP (unshielded Twisted Pair)copper cabling for connections within theacademic building. End-to-endperformance of this solution matches thefull specification of the Category6A/Class EA standard for 10Gb/sconnections up to 100 metres.

For the connection to the Kolkatacampus main administrative building,IBM Automation team proposed theLazrSPEED 300 fiber solution. This multi-mode fiber comfortably exceeds the OM3fiber standard and supports 10G datatransmission up to a distance of 300meters.

With 10G cabling in its horizontalconnections as well as its networkbackbone, the institute can comfortablymeet the needs of applications like videoconferencing, says NatarajanViswanathan, Managing Director, India

& SAARC of CommScope. He explains that such network

infrastructure has plenty of reserveperformance to meet future needs.This is especially important inacademic and research organizationsbecause the bandwidth demands oftheir systems increases relentlesslyevery year.

The 10G copper and fiber cablingchosen by the Indian Statistical Institutewill meet its network performance needsfor decades to come. And the high densityof VisiPatch 360 patching hardware,combined with its modular, scalabledesign, make it easy to add moreconnections as these are needed. Theseand many other features of the Systimaxsolutions chosen for Kolkata campus allhelp to reduce its overall infrastructurecosts, Vishwanathan says.

[email protected]

GONE ARE THE DAYSOF BASIC INTERNETCONNECTIVITY.EDUCATIONALCAMPUS NETWORKSSPORT ENTERPRISE-CLASS FEATURES,LIKE 24X7CONNECTIVITY,WI-FI COVERAGE,MULTI-DEVICESUPPORT

www.expresscomputeronline.comINTERVIEWALAN ATKINSON

DELL


Alan Atkinson, Vice president and General Manager, Storage, Dell, talks toMehak Chawla about disruptive patterns in storage, company's action plan inthe storage, big data space and upcoming offerings. Excerpts...

What are the trends in the storage space,especially with technologies like cloudimpacting storage buying patterns ofenterprises?We are at one of those inflection points in theindustry, which is probably the biggest onethat we have seen since the late 90s. In the pastdecade, roughly from 2000 to 2010, it has beenkind of status quo -- nothing has beenmassively disruptive. But when I talk to CIOstoday, it's a very different game. Things likecloud, flash, virtualization and big data havetotally changed the course of the conversation.CIOs are not asking us about how do theyreduce their infrastructure costs by 5-10%, butare looking at radically different technology todo things like a 50% reduction. To a largeextent, it's driven by Amazon because CFOsand CIOs are realizing that they need to adoptsome of these technologies to get to the costmodel that they need. That's where the wholesoftware defined infrastructure is coming intoplay. We are already through with the first stepin the form of virtualization, which most datacenters have done to a significant extent.Server virtualization is not so much of aconcern but when we look at storage andnetworks, there have been some considerableissues with respect to virtualization.

Given the advancements in the storage space,what offerings are expected from Dell?One of the key announcements that we havemade in this space is our flash enclosure. Theannouncement in essence is that we areproviding flash at the price of the disk. So howwe do that? Well, its all software based, wherewe used single-level cell (SLC), which is theexpensive stuff and combined it with read-intensive multi-level cell (MLC). The way wegot around the read-intensive MLC, which isunreliable anywhere, is through our software.All the writes or memory goes to SLC and weonly write to MLC three times a day, on anaverage. By doing that, we are able to get atremendous cost blunt with no differenceperformance wise.

The solution is about 45 times cheaper thanthe competition. We announced that inconjunction with the dense enclosure. Thereason why they are interesting together isbecause our software does the data placement.The hot data comes to the flash and as it getscold over time, it gets pulled down. We are goingmuch more down the software enabled path.You can expect to see us move much moretowards software driven licensing model andsoftware defined infrastructure. Dell storage,over time will take more of a Dell identity andless of an EqualLogic or Compellent identity.

Though EqualLogic continues to do well for Dell,is there a need for a product or version moresuitable for SME needs? Going ahead, whatenhancements are expected in EqualLogic?Yes, EqualLogic continues to be on fire from agrowth perspective. It has continued to retainthe top most iSCSI market share for severalquarters now. EqualLogic is doing well becauseits easy to use, particularly in a Microsoftenvironment. We want to leverage thatadvantage across our storage offerings.Historically, there hasn't been a lot ofintegration between Compellent, Equalogicand PowerVault. For instance, they don'treplicate. Over time, we are looking to fix that.This summer we have some very excitingcompellent announcements coming up and youwill see a lot of activity around EqualLogic inthe fall time.

Convergence is an interesting buzzword inthe SME space. One flavor of convergence ispretty expensive but fairly easy to use. We aretrying to combine the opex savings without thehuge outlay of capex. Most of the customers wetalk, are having the 'software defined datacenter' conversations with us. When it comes toSMEs, the discussion can go two ways eitheraround cloud or around lowering of the opex.We would like to create a Dell identityencompassing small, large and extra largesoftware defined flavors of storage.

[email protected]

We are going much more down thesoftware enabled path

How is Dell storage positionedto address the bigdata demands?

We see twoseparateapproaches - one ofthem is Hyperscale,which meanscompute very closeto the storage,storage very cheapand all of it softwaredefined.Secondflavor is NAS andwhen it comes toscale out NAS,whatwe are seeing is amuch moreconsolidated typeof approach.Thecommon themeacross big datastorage is going tobe relativelycommoditizedhardwarecombined withrelativelysophisticatedsoftware.

FEATURE IT BUDGETS



EXPRESS COMPUTER 23AUGUST 1-15, 2013

CIOs across organizations areresponsible for helping drive thebusiness using technology.However, its the CFOs who usually

accept and approve the technologyprocurement or demands made by theCIOs in their respective organizations.

Over the past many decades, therehas been a so-called cold war betweenthese two key personalitiesthe CFOsand the CIOsprimarily in the contextof IT budgets. While the CIOs see greatvalue in bringing new technology intotheir organizations to drive efficiencyand reduce cost, the CFOs have anextended role to play in addressing thefinancial needs of each and everydepartment and not just the ITdepartment. As it happens, the CFOsalways are faced by monetaryconstraints and at times are unable tofulfill the demands made by CIOs interms of IT budgets.

However, this old tussle for budget is slowly getting changed now or hasalready changed to an extent in someorganizations, owing largely to theemergence of new technologies andconcepts like cloud computing,enterprise mobility, bring your owndevice (BYOD), virtualization, on-demand services and others.

In fact, these technologies have givena new dimension to the way IT budgetswere made in the past and importantly, it has created a breathing space for theCFOs in a manner that they are able toconsider the demands made by CIOs inIT budgets. All these years, it has beenthe CIOs that have been talking andmaking loud noises about IT budgets butits time to hear what the CFOs actuallythink of these new technologies and howthese have brought about a change in the traditional IT budgeting and planning process.

Technologies such as cloud, virtualization and BYOD arefinding favor with CFOs across industries and changing the traditional IT budgeting process

BY PANKAJ MARU

CFOsWarm Up to New TechCFOs


FEATURE IT BUDGETS

The shift in IT spendsIn recent times, according to VikasKapoor, Director - Finance, InvensysIndia, the focus on IT spends has movedfrom a contributor approach to anenabler one. The genesis of thisapproach is Can I do more with less? andif spending has to be increased, what isthe incremental benefit it brings in.

(IT) Spends are now not onlyevaluated for setup but also runningestimates for the next five years so as toenable correct costing. Tablets arepreferred to laptops for wow factorbesides being cheaper to maintain andeasier for the field force. If data securityis not compromised, cloud computing ispreferred to avoid large storage networksand to lower the cost of maintenance,says Kapoor.

Tablets and laptops are replacingthose bulky desktops and monitors fromcost as well as look and feel stand point,

while the assurance on data protection ispaving the road for cloud computing inorganizations today.

Anand Natarajan, COO & CFO,Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd, explainshow the IT spend was measured in thepast and how it has changed amid the riseof new technologies and shifting businessscenarios.

Historically a fair amount of IT spendwas measured against the relativelyinexpensive manual labor available. Thathas now changed in the last decade withvolumes, wage inflation and competitivepressures demanding the need to bequick, efficient and frictionless, explainsNatarajan.

There is always the need to ensurethat we invest prudently andappropriately in order to be able toremain relevant in the market,differentiate on customer and productdelivery and optimize returns on

IN RECENTTIMES,THEFOCUS ON IT SPENDSHAS MOVED FROM ACONTRIBUTORAPPROACH TO ANENABLERONE.THEGENESIS OFTHISAPPROACH IS CAN IDO MORE WITH LESS?


investment (and consequently, equity) tothe shareholder, he adds.

In his view, cloud, enterprise mobilityand BYOD all offer compellingalternatives to investing upfront incaptive infrastructure and solutions tothe company. Sharing the changes in ITspends made at Fullerton India,Natarajan informs, We are now moving areasonable amount of our IT spend awayfrom the conventional own/buildstructures to purchases of capacity andcapability on-tap.

Furthermore, he says, This providesus with a range of opportunities we canleverage off an existing infrastructureinvestment and one that refreshesperiodically, without having to undertakeincremental investments/retrials. Itallows flexible scale-up and scale-downand economies of scale benefits, deliversredundancy and DR support and bringsmore predictability to our spends.

As seen by CFOs, it is the flexibilityand efficiency offered by new technologythat is bringing value in the IT budgetplanning today compared to fixed,quantity-based hardware procurementsand affordable manpower.

Bangalore-based K R Veerappan, CFO,Global Greens, holds similar views asexpressed by his counterparts. In recentyears, the focus has been to get more valueout of the IT spends and the emphasis ismore on productivity. The IT budget hasbeen on the decline. The capitalexpenditure budget is being reduced andthe stress is on reduced revenueexpenditure, says Veerappan, whopreviously was in-charge of Madura Retailand Garments as Vice President - Finance.

Clearly, CFOs across organizationsand enterprises across verticals aretaking a very close look at the changesthat are happening in the IT space andequally adapting to those technologyshifts by incorporating them in their ITbudgets to an extent. From CIOsperspective, this is an encouraging signand is a proof that CFOs are not justthinking of money all the time but alsounderstand technology considerably.

New tech and CFOs Given that several CFOs have brought insome changes in how they budget for IT,

it would be interesting to learn how theyview the new trends shaping upenterprise IT.

Cloud and BYOD should definitelyreduce the capex budget in organizations.Moving to the cloud could become amajor success if major vendors like SAP,IBM, Oracle, etc., provide end- to-endenterprise solutions on cloud and largeenterprises show the courage to movefrom on-premise to cloud solutions,opines Mumbai-based Govinder Singh,CFO, Tata Housing DevelopmentCompany Ltd.

According to Singh, currently, thecloud solutions are predominantly usedfor nice-to-have modules or add-onmodules. BYOD is an evolving conceptbut it could be piloted for a particulargroup within the organization like IT ormarketing, where employees are techsavvy and can take care of their owndevices. At the same time, theorganization will have to reimburse themthe cost of maintaining their devices.

Moreover, he says, The risk of piratedsoftware and malware will be more incase of BYOD, but a proper verificationprocess would curb that menace. Budgetsare tight but if we are able to show valueto the organization on new technologyimplementation, it becomes easier tojustify the spends. At the same time,some technologies need to beimplemented as the environment andplatforms change for which IT needs tobe on the forefront of latest trends.

Bangalore-based Narayana Health isone of those organizations that areadopting the cloud and BYOD concepts.

We would like to be associated withtechnologies that give our patients aquick but comforting and economicalway of availing the services. IT budgetswill be on the rise, including theprovisioning for a large-scale ERPimplementation, sizable bandwidth and agood supporting technology that canenable access to medical records on themove, says Kesavan Venugopalan, GroupCFO, Narayana Health.

We are already in the concept-adoption stage of cloud, enterprisemobility and BYOD trends. While welooked at a very frugal, bare essential costfor IT till recently, the time has come to

THEY(CIOS ANDCFOS) BOTH HAVE A BIRDS EYE-VIEW OFTHEENTIREORGANIZATIONGOVINDER SINGH,CFO,TATA HOUSINGDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD


TODAYSTECHNOLOGIES HAVEGIVEN A NEWDIMENSION TO THEWAY IT BUDGETS WEREMADE IN THE PASTANDIMPORTANTLY, IT HASCREATED ABREATHING SPACEFOR THE CFOS IN AMANNER THATTHEYARE ABLE TOCONSIDER THEDEMANDS MADE BYCIOS IN IT BUDGETS

FEATURE


IT BUDGETS

look at full-scale IT, including thetechnology to support remote medicalconsultation and diagnostic services,adds Venugopalan.

Certainly, these CFOs have broken theso-called myth of being regressive orstubborn in nature toward adopting andinvesting in new technology. They are notfar from what their CIOs are thinkingfrom an IT perspective in drivingbusiness efficiently. BYOD and cloudbased software applications are pushingaway the capital expenditure (capex)from traditional IT budgets.

We continue to invest in technologyand IT infrastructure. As a retail serviceprovider with a customer base of close toa million customers and a distributionnetwork of over 350 branches coveringover 330 towns, technology remains ourfundamental backbone for productdelivery, Natrajan stresses on the needof IT investments for business.

He informs that his organization is in astage of transformation and thereforecontinues to invest heavily in thebusiness infrastructure and so IT spendhasnt reduced. While our IT spendshave not reduced, how we outlay themoney is significantly more productive

than it used to be earlier.Its quite true that new technologies

and concepts are changing certaindimensions of traditional IT budgets andplanningand todays IT budgets havean increasing presence of operationalexpense against capital expense, drivenlargely by cloud-based applications andpay-per-use components.

A common ground for CIOs and CFOsOverall, it appears that the newtechnologies have helped to bring theCFOs and CIOs together from an ITbudget perspective in certain cases. Toan extent, it has diffused the old cold warbetween the two and made theirrelationship less stressful. But do theCFOs think or feel so?

Yes, today with the fast-changingtechnology landscape, CIOs and CFOshave to maintain a cordial relationship.Poor communication can get in the way ofthe CIO-CFO relationship. CFOs mayfind that CIOs speak in abstract terms ortechnology-speak, or focus on the bigpicture while the CFO would prefer moregranularity, says Singh of Tata Housing.

Both have a lot in common. They facethe same challenges and issues in the

WE ARE NOWMOVINGAREASONABLEAMOUNTOFOUR ITSPEND AWAYFROMTHE CONVENTIONALOWN/BUILDSTRUCTURES TOPURCHASES OFCAPACITYANDCAPABILITYON-TAPANAND NATARAJAN,COO & CFO,FULLERTON INDIA CREDIT CO. LTD

TABLETS ANDLAPTOPS AREREPLACING THOSEBULKY DESKTOPS ANDMONITORS FROMCOSTAS WELLASLOOK AND FEELSTAND POINT,WHILETHE ASSURANCE ONDATA PROTECTION ISPAVING THE ROAD FORCLOUD COMPUTING .



organization staff, budget, interventionfrom management and projectprioritization. They both have a birdseye-view of the entire organization, headds.

Singh further notes, Both face risingexpectations from higher managementbut need to have the entire organizationengaged and on board in order toimplement new, effective policies. So itsobvious that the relationship will have tobe cordial to work together towardorganizational success.

Veerappan of Global Greens agreesand adds, These technologies havereally helped increase productivity andchallenge the high IT budgets. Therelationship between the CFOs and CIOshas become more cordial.

Giving more insights into the CIO-CFO relationship, Kapoor of InvensysIndia says, There is more camaraderiebetween CIOs and CFOs, as both arerealizing the impact of IT spending andthe utility of IT innovation as they dealwith one another. With more focus onjustifying each spend in light of the recentdownturn, a cordial relationship doesexist.

However, not all CFOs accept thenotion of existence of an uneasyrelationship between CIOs and CFOs inthe first place. In fact, Natarajan ofFullerton India terms the the existence ofany stress between the two keypersonalities as nothing but constructivetension.

I dont believe that the relationshiphas been stressful ever, in a destructivesense. There will always be aconstructive tension between deliveryand control functions and these areusually beneficial to the overalldevelopment of the corporation. So longas theres a mutual understanding of thecorporate priorities and appetite, theroles of the CIO and the CFO arecomplementary, argues Natarajan.

Natarajan is critical of the lack of

technology understanding among hisfellow CFOs and also expects CIOs to bebetter equipped on the risk assessmentfront. Theres a greater need for theCFOs to understand technology, theirdrivers and the investment cycles betterand for the CIOs to optimize the risk-reward assessments today than it wasearlier, he says.

As a CFO, I look to the CIO to scan themarket for opportunities that allow thecompany to optimize its resources,improve productivity and reducetransaction costs on one side and becompetitive, if not market-leading, interms of product delivery, Natarajansays.

Reinforcing Natarajans thought ofconstructive tension but with a slighttwist, Venugopalan of Narayana Healthexpects the CIO-CFO relationship to bemore of constructive dialogues wherein

the cordial relationship between the twobenefits not just the company but also thecustomers.

New technology gives newerchallenges but it has to be in line withwhat the organization can afford to becompetitive and creative. Hence therewill be more constructive dialoguesthat will happen to make it moreaffordable to the patients/customers,which is our vision, concludesVenugopalan.

Though the literal meaning of theterms constructive tension andconstructive dialog are different, thecore essence for CIOs and CFOs today isto come together, work as a team andachieve progress using technology andpass on the benefits to customers orpeople.

[email protected]

AS SEEN BY CFOS, IT IS THE FLEXIBILITYAND EFFICIENCY OFFERED BY NEWTECHNOLOGYTHAT ISBRINGING AVALUE IN THE IT BUDGET PLANNING TODAY COMPARED TO FIXED QUANTITY BASEDHARDWARE PROCUREMENTS AND AFFORDABLE MAN-POWER.

ENHANCINGCUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

FEATURE CUSTOMER FOCUS


Imagine a scenario when the book youordered online did not reach youafter the promised delivery deadlineof three days. You call the websites

customer care and the representativepromises that the book will reach you thenext day, but it still does not. You callagain the next day and connect toanother executive this time who does notknow the history of your purchases orrequests; gives you the same status andadds that there is no record of yourprevious conversation with theorganization.

Does this sound familiar? The bookmay reach you in another 1-2 days, butwould you like to make another purchaseat the same website?

Now, lets tweak this scenario a bit.When you call customer care for thefirst time, the representative tells youthat your book was stuck in transit andassures you that it will reach you withina day. She even checks to see whetheryou have faced this situation before; forexample when you had ordered anotherbook a month ago. The book reachesyou the next day and you then getanother call from the companyconfirming the receipt and apologizingfor the delay in delivery again. Wouldyou go back to the same website foranother purchase?

The only difference between the twoscenarios is the ability of the organizationto turn around an unpleasant experiencefor a consumer and end a transaction on ahigh note. This is the difference that onegreat customer experience can make inspite of circumstances not being in favorof the organization.

Simply put, customer experience isthe sum total of relationships a customerhas with a business and is based on allinteractions and thoughts the customerhas about the business. Customers whohave a positive experience are more likelyto become loyal customers to thebusiness.

A multi-touch worldWhile the predictability of customerinteractions has vanished, the way inwhich businesses engage with customershas fundamentally changed. Customerscan now interact with brands frommultiple touch points or channels (Web,mobile, social, retail stores, kiosks);however, they cite cross-channelinconsistency as their number onecomplaint. Your customer is onlyinteracting with you as a single entity, sheis unaware that you have separate teamsto run your Twitter account, tele-supportand email support none of which areconnected to the same view of customerinformation.

To succeed in this multi-touch pointworld, businesses must indeed shift fromchannel-centric organizations tocustomer-centric organizations. The bestway to achieve this transformation is toconnect internal data, teams, andtechnologies to drive cohesive personalexperiences that increase engagement,sales, and loyalty across channels.

As a first step, businesses mustunderstand that the best investmentdecisions in improving the customerexperience can be made only afterunderstanding the customer lifecycle andexpectations. In this context, marketersare already overwhelmed by the quantityof information flowing in from all sources.The emergence of social networks hasadded complexity to the implications forenterprises. However, embracing socialnetworks has compelling rewards interms of understanding customerbehavior and analytics.

The solution lies in leveraging hugequantities of data also called Big Data,i.e., traditional enterprise data ormachine-generated/sensor data or socialdata to truly understand the customer.Big Data solutions help marketers tocombine and pool information by linkingdisparate and siloed channels.Technology vendors are making it easy

EXPRESS COMPUTER 29


AUGUST 1-15, 2013

Customers who have apositive experience ofinteracting with abusiness are more likelyto stay loyal to it. Hereare some best practicesenterprises will do wellto adopt

BY ATUL TULI

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS THE SUM TOTALOF RELATIONSHIPS ACUSTOMER HAS WITH ABUSINESS AND IS BASED ON ALLINTERACTIONS AND THOUGHTS HE HAS ABOUTTHE BUSINESS.

86% OF CONSUMERS WILL GLADLYSPEND MORE FOR A BETTER

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE


FEATURE CUSTOMER FOCUS

for enterprises to unlock the value oftheir data with fast and pervasivebusiness intelligence. By collecting andanalyzing transactional data, enterprisescan actually map customer needs andexpectations. Predictive analyticstherefore helps marketers to target theright customer with the relevant offers,thus reducing cost and effort withoutoverstepping and making the customeruncomfortable.

Engage and integrateSecondly, positive engagements are soimportant to consumers that they arewilling to pay for it. In fact, according tothe 2011 Customer Experience Impact(CEI) Report based on a surveycommissioned by RightNow (which wasacquired by Oracle in March 2012) andconducted by Harris Interactive, 86% ofconsumers will gladly spend more for abetter customer experience. Moreover,marketers understand that acquiringnew customers is a lot more expensivethan retaining old ones.

Big Data plays a key role here again asit helps in deriving loyalty metrics used inassessing customer loyalty. By linkingfinancial data to customer data andcustomer feedback, marketers are able toassess the loyalty displayed by customerstowards an organization or a brand.

Exceeding expectations of thecustomers helps ensure superiorcustomer experiences that make theconsumers return to a brand moreoften. Poor experiences are typically aresult of unmet expectations, leadingconsumers to move to newer vendors.The CEI survey also states that 89percent of consumers began doingbusiness with a competitor following anundesired customer experience. Someindustry studies also indicate that itcosts an organization eight times moreto acquire a new customer than to retainan existing one.

Thirdly, businesses must integratetheir various customer interactionchannels. As customers are turning to anever-growing assortment of devices and

ACCORDING TO A 2011 HARRIS INTERACTIVE SURVEY

touch points, businesses struggle to solvenew problems with legacy systems andteam structures. This is because internalteams are siloed and held to channel-oriented goals and legacy technology isunable to scale; data and content arescattered throughout the enterprise.Moreover, no universal view of thecustomer lifecycle or cross-channelperformance can be provided with thearchaic technology. Millions of customersusing multiple touchpoints often findthemselves exposed to the product orservice providers internal businessproblems at the point of engagement.

The time has come to move beyond thelimits of individual channels and touchpoints and instead create well-choreographed cross-channelinteractions. To deliver a great customerexperience, it is important to invest in aplatform that can quickly find therelevant information that meetscustomer demands. The integrationstarts with unifying each customerinteraction across all communicationmodes by gaining a 360-degree view ofcustomers. This lets businesses deliver aunified brand message across allchannels so that they can delivercustomized content and offers. Theintegration also allows businesses tocreate the desired transparent, channel-agnostic and personalized customerexperience. With a technologyinfrastructure that liberates all theknowledge trapped in channel-specificsilos and puts it to work in a commonplatform that feeds every touch point,business organizations really can achieveenterprise-wide alignment. Moreover, itlets them attract and engage the rightcustomers, both online and offline,through marketing outreach.

Go socialAs a fourth step, businesses must givesocial networks the full attention theydeserve. When ignored, a customer with

an axe to grind can make a service hiccupa very public failure. You may recall theDell Hell episode from 2005, when ablogger posted a series of articlesdocumenting his unsatisfying experiencewith the brand. The blogs spurredthousands of comments along with linksfrom a host of other sites, and his storyended up receiving mainstream mediacoverageultimately spreading the wordfar and wide.

Social networks have fundamentallychanged the way many customerschoose to interact with businesses.Organizations view the proliferation ofsocial networks as a threat or anopportunity. It can be seen as a threatbecause of the seemingly endless newdata streams social networksgeneratedata that needs to be siftedand processed for the information that isuseful.

On the other hand, businesses need toapproach social networking as a hugeopportunitya new way to communicatewith and learn from customers in a modethat customers have embraced and towhich they have become accustomed. Formany organizations, the opportunity isthere and by capitalizing on it sooner,they can enjoy the benefits without facingany negative repercussions. By taking astrategic, knowledge-based approach,organizations can easily leverage thepotential of social networks to truly

enhance the customer experience andimprove business performance.

Social Customer RelationshipManagement (SRM) helps organizationsuse social data and channels to drivegreater customer understanding, makebetter business decisions, and improveand strengthen relationships. Through acombination of loyalty management,analytics, and service capabilities thathelp enterprises better understand eachcustomers lifetime value, vendors nowoffer solutions to enterprises to helpthem build more insightful marketingprograms by understanding customerssocial conversations.

Finally, organizations must adapt tobecome instantly responsive. The dayswhen organizations could take a week toget back to customers are history. Today,customers are conditioned for speed.They want information and they want itfast. Speed has become a competitiveadvantage and can make or break anorganizations reputation. Answeringcustomer queries, especially theircomplaints, quickly and efficiently is apre-requisite to deliver superiorcustomer experiences.

If ignored, customers today have a lotof options to voice their dissatisfactionthat could lead to undesired situations forthe image of the company. Even ifresponding with the correct status isgoing to take time, letting the customerknow is critical. A timely response canturn an angry, dissatisfied customer intoa loyal one for life.

In todays global markets, customerexperience has become a key businessdifferentiatoryet delighting customersis not always easy. By taking a strategic,knowledge-based approach, andleveraging the best practices outlinedabove, organizations can truly enhancetheir customer experience and improvebusiness performance.

Atul Tuli is Director Fusion CRM, Oracle APAC.



89 PERCENTOF CONSUMERS BEGAN DOING BUSINESS WITH ACOMPETITOR FOLLOWING ANUNDESIRED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.SOME INDUSTRYSTUDIES ALSO INDICATE THATITCOSTS ANORGANIZATION EIGHTTIMES MORE TO ACQUIRE ANEWCUSTOMER THAN TO RETAIN AN EXISTING ONE

CASE STUDY


DAMAN & DIU TAX DEPT.

TAXING,THE EASY WAY

Wipro helps Daman & Diu tax department shore up its earning by 37% by deployingVATsoft, an e-filing system for commercial taxes

BY HEENA JHINGAN

The Department of Value AddedTaxes, Daman & Diu, was set up tolook after the entire taxadministration of the union

territory. The department is reported tohold a record for highest tax collectionper employee in comparison with VATdepartments across the country. This isdespite the fact that until a couple ofyears back the tax collection system wasnot standardized and all the work wasdone manually, using the traditional pen-paper approach right from registration ofthe dealer to tax calculation.

With the Government of India initiatingNeGP (National e-Governance Plan),Department of Value Added Taxes, Daman& Diu came to be covered under theMMP(mission mode project) forcommercial taxes. As per the program, allthe departmental transactions andoperational process are to becomputerized. This kind of a transitionrequires external expertise and changemanagement at an organizational level.This is where Wipro stepped in aconsulting role.

Wipro was involved in the projectright from its conceptualization back in2011, however, real action began only in2012 when functional modules were beingrolled out into e-services. Thedepartment has now integrated an e-filing system on its portal, where dealerscan register , compute and pay the tax.

Taxing proceduresGanesh Ramachandran, GeneralManager, IS Government Consulting,Wipro Ltd says that before the consultingfirm took over the task, the processes atthe department were not evenstandardized, forget being automated. Itwas haphazard not just in terms of theprocess followed but also in terms ofapplicable tax charges.

Individual invoices were not capturedand all the transactions of dealers wereconsidered into two categories sale orpurchase. The tax calculations wereperformed on overall sale or purchasedata and no separate tax charges wereconsidered for commodities of differentcategories. Such representation of taxliabilities were reported on paper forms atthe VAT office with no proper

demarcation of inter and intra state salesor purchases. Moreover, commoditiesclassification according to the tax ratesapplicable for respective categories wasnot practiced with diligence, resulting ininappropriate tax payments. Also, withreturns being submitted on paper, crosschecking and verification of returns filedcan be an arduous task considering theamount of paper data generated in thesubsequent cycle of returns filing andpayments, he explains.

The solution Wipro's task was to make this hassle freefor both users and the administration.The agency needed to take care of all theaspects, including infrastructure andcapacity building and security.

Ramachandran observes, For theease of both user groups, provision of asingle interface to the users of the systemto interact with the Value Added Taxoffice was a must. This was done by usingthe web portal of the UT administrationof Daman & Diu and customization of theNational Informatics Center (NIC)Karnataka software VATsoft for filingreturns. NIC has been for providing e-Governance and integrated services inGovernment Sector. VATsoft is beingused by several other North Easternstates and union territories in thecountry.

Since the system was to be used forfiling tax returns, the system needed tobe a secure environment. Ramachandraninforms the system being used by about3,500 dealers in Daman & Diu includesNIC deployed measures for modulesecurity in addition to the physicalsecurity of the network components,human resource security and incidentmanagement, troubleshooting for theseincidents, identity protection and accesscontrols that is built in the forms offunctionalities allowed for any user toaccess and is centrally controlled by thedepartment administrator.

To make the system more robust,several security mechanisms have beenincluded. The system allows role-basedaccess and also tracks event logging. Thesecurity solution that is being used offersanti-virus protection as well as sourcecode protection together with firewall



IN INDIA,A MAJORITY OFTHEDEALERS OPERATETHROUGH THEIRCHARTEREDACCOUNTANTS.NOT ONLY SHOULDTHE DEALERSUNDERSTAND THE NEED OFAUTOMATION,THE CAS MUSTALSO UNDERSTANDTHE NEED ANDFUNCTIONING OFTHE SYSTEM.GANESH RAMACHANDRAN,GENERAL MANAGER,IS GOVERNMENT CONSULTING,WIPRO LTD

37% increase in revenue Paperless, error free, transparentsystem Better customer service: 98% of data that client deals with isdigitized and MIS reports customizedas per office hierarchy are provided Improved productivity andefficiency: The per resource oremployee revenue generation isincreased by about 40% and timespent on redundant avoidable work issignificantly reduced Future ready system: Now thatthe processes are standardized,transition to GST will be smoother,simpler.

BUSINESS BENEFITS

and intrusion detection systems. Bothnetwork and host based protectionmechanisms have been included in thesecurity system, he says.

He adds that the implementation hasbeen a smooth one, resulting in about 37%increase in the revenues of thedepartment.

B.S. Thakur, Deputy Commissioner-VAT, Daman, says, With the help ofWipro Consulting Team, the VAT office isnow in a position to render the services tothe taxpayers online. With this the VATdepartment has taken a giant leapforward into the age of digitization,increasing efficiency, transparency andproductivity of the VAT department.

The challenges The implementation was a learningprocess for both the department and theconsultancy firm. Ramachandranexplains that they needed to buildcapacity for the 15 member team of thedepartment. He believes that whenever

a change is introduced in the system, itis very important for the users tounderstand the significance of thatchange.

In India, a majority of the dealersoperate through their charteredaccountants. In that case, not only shouldthe dealers understand the need ofautomation, but the CAs must alsounderstand the need and functioning ofthe system. Doing this is a time

consuming job, he says.

The next step For Wipro, this is not a regular timebound contract, instead a projectwhere they will get extension on need basis. At present, the the agency has delivered solutions forregistering, filing and tax calculations.In the next level, Wipro will help inintegrating modules for tax refund andaudit. Meanwhile, Wipro has alsostarted work to digitize the data, theusers can now access data of the pastyears (3-4 years).

This implementation, saysRamachandran, will ease the migrationto GST regime. The Daman & Diudepartment stands ready for futureenhancements and functional changeswith the development of VATsoft. Thetransition to GST will now be a matterof customization, he says.

[email protected]


CASE STUDY DAMAN & DIU TAX DEPT.


THE IMPLEMENTATION HAS BEEN A SMOOTH ONE, RESULTING IN ABOUT37% INCREASE IN THEREVENUES OFTHEDEPARTMENT

www.expresscomputeronline.comINTERVIEWPRASHANT RANADE

CEO & PRESIDENT, SYNTEL


Prashant Ranade, CEO & President, Syntel talks to Pankaj Maru about company's business performance, impact of new technology in IT & BPO sector and discusses the impacts of currency volatility and new visa bill. Excerpts...

How much have new technologies impactedthe IT and BPO services demand?Today, clients expect a partner that can helptransform their business and translate into fewkey attributes, which is where our experienceand focus comes in. Firstly, a partner who couldhelp clients transform business, understandand focus on how the clients' business ischanging and its implications. Second is abouttechnology, whether it be cloud, mobility, bigdata or social media and how all thesetechnologies are integrating with the business,so knowledge of technology is essential. Thirdarea is based around our tag line- Consider ITDone and Small Enough to Listen and BigEnough to Deliver-- which says that thepartner needs the vision and knowledge oftechnology, and focus on transformationalinitiatives is essential.

Eventually, clients expect us to be absolutelypositive on delivering promises, which is ourfocus. At Syntel, our 22,000 plus associatesmakes us big enough to focus on what wedecide and on the flip side, right from juniors tothe senior most leadership, we work closelyand listen each other. Eventually, people dobusiness with combinations of performance ofpeople, experiences and understanding ofmarkets.

Indian rupee has slipped against the USdollar. In your view, how much will the rupeevolatility impact the Indian IT and BPOindustry? Clearly, no expert can predict how currencycan go in short term. The current rupee level isthe weakest in many years touching Rs.60 to adollar. When the business is either in dollars,pounds or euros in a global delivery model,against rupee it does help in short term but inthe long term it is not good for businesses andthe economy.

Interestingly, in last 10-12 year history ofexchange rates, there's been a few anomalieswhere rupee actually became strong at a ratelesser than Rs.45 to a dollar compared to thepresent Rs.60 level. Baring those anomalies,most of the 12 year period, the rupee has ralliedbetween Rs.46 to Rs.49 against the dollar.

Currency consistency is good for businessesand organizations like ours and a stablecurrency rate is what most businesses expectsand wants.

Currency's impact is purely mathematical.One rupee moves 30- 40 bps, so when rupeegets weaker, it impacts the operating or grossmargins by 30- 40 bps and when it getsstronger, then it contracts the operatingmargins. Given this, we certainly do theoccasional hedging because we take the clients'order, so we know the backlog, know its cost,and also know the clients' commitment to dothe business. So we tend to lock-in at aparticular exchange rate. Hedging at a point intime of getting an order if the rupee getsweaker or stronger, helps maintain theoperating margins. That's how most ITcompanies hedge on currencies to mitigate thecurrency movements.

Will the new US visa-immigration bill impactthe Indian IT and BPO sector?Clearly some of the current bill's provisions asbeing discussed, will impact the entireindustry. But the law enactment requires boththe Senate and the House approval andthereafter, will have to see whether it isimplemented or not. So there's a range ofpossibilities based on the bill that is beingconsidered. The Senate is likely to pass thebill while House timing would be roughly inthe fall of this year. There's high expectationand possibilities that the House bill provisionswould be different and more watered downfrom the Senate bill. I would like to point outhere that today businesses are tuning freetrades across regions and are absolutelyessential in a long run, which is specific to ourindustry and Syntel. So this is not somethingthat is going to happen between today andtomorrow morning. There are possibilities interms of how we can get impacted but areconfident to navigate through with ourcompany's history and the fact to implementdifferent models in response to whatever lawis enacted at appropriate time.

[email protected]

Clients expect a partner that can helptransform their business

How has beenSyntel's businessand the demandenvironment thisyear?

First of all,forSyntel the demandenvironment hasbeen stable,certainly lot betterthan 2 or 3 yearsago,when everysegment andindustry faced theeconomicuncertainty andfinancial meltdown.Within Syntel,weare very pleasedbecause in our last5 year performancewe have delivered18 % CAGR,24 %earning growth andhave increased ourstrength by 17%annually.So,Syntelhad a strong Q3 ofprofitable growthand all these yearsour performancehas been above theindustry average.

CASE STUDY


WAVE CINEMAS

Wave Cinemas has upgraded its projectorsfrom 2K to 4K in order tooffer higher resolution andbetter movie-viewing experience

BY KTP RADHIKA

Wave Cinemas, the multiplexarm of Wave Infratech, haseight operational cinemasspread across northern India.

Currently, it operates in Noida,Ghaziabad, Raja Garden-Delhi, Lucknow,Moradabad, Ludhiana, Haridwar andChandigarh. Consist

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