Microsoft, the world’s largest software developer, is now focusing on developing innovative tools to expand computing penetration in India and other emerging markets, a top company official said Tuesday.
“There are only 1.1 billion PCs deployed around the world and we see a huge opportunity in this area,” S. Somasegar, senior vice president of Microsoft’s developer division, told a media conference held in Hyderabad to mark completion of 10 years of its Indian operations Tuesday.
The emerging markets group at Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC), the company’s largest development centre outside its Redmond headquarters in US, is focussing on expanding computing penetration in India and elsewhere through personal computers, mobile phones, television and other devices.
“We are focusing on how innovation can make computing more effective and how technology can become more accessible to people,” he said.
“Affordability, desirability, relevance, ease of use and local language interface are the key drivers of computing penetration in emerging markets, and we are innovating around these drivers on PC, mobile and TV,” said Srini Koppolu, corporate vice president and managing director, MSIDC.
MSIDC marked the completion of 10 years of operations by inaugurating a new building on its sprawling campus at Gacchibowli here.
The software giant, which made a humble beginning with 20 people this day in 1998, now has 1,500 employees in its India arm. They are now contributing to innovation and product development for global customers, company officials said.
“MSIDC employees have made a very significant impact because the innovative software products that they develop touch the lives of millions around the world,” said Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in a recorded video message played at a function here to mark the occasion.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurated the third building of MSIDC on the 54-acre campus. The new building, with an office space of over 600,000 square feet, can house more than 2,000 employees.
On the occasion, he said that for a world-class company it was a challenge to set up operations in a developing country and Microsoft had taken up this challenge. “Microsoft and companies like it have found Andhra Pradesh a place to grow,” he said.
MSIDC filed 220 patents during the last four years and has end-to-end responsibility for more than 50 major Microsoft products, features and technologies.
Koppolu said setting up MSIDC was a significant challenge, as it was the first major attempt at distributed development by Microsoft which has predominantly remained Redmond-centric with regard to product development.
He said MSIDC which had 70 different initiatives two years ago had gone through a consolidation process to focus on just 20 clear missions now.
“We are transforming MSIDC to focus on six key domains – developer tools, mobile, data, business applications, windows and live,” he said.
Regarding mobile phone-based products and services, he said, “A 300-member strong team is working in this segment and has already developed some innovative products.”
The key products developed completely out of MSIDC include data protection manager 2007, visual studio for devices, Jscript, Microsoft BizTalk RFID and virtual PC 2007.
Microsoft Focusing on Computing Penetration in India
August 14, 2008 by casualchoiceIntel PCs to Wake up For Phone Calls
August 14, 2008 by casualchoiceIntel Corp. is unveiling new technology that will let computers wake up from their power-saving sleep state when they receive a phone call over the Internet.
Current computers have to be fully on to receive a call, making them impractical and energy-wasters as replacements for the telephone.
The new component Intel is announcing Thursday will let computers automatically return to a normal, full-powered state when a call comes in. The computer can activate its microphone and loudspeaker to alert the user, then connect the call.
“This certainly helps the PC become a much better center of communications in the home,” said Trevor Healy, chief executive of Jajah, which will be the first Internet telephone company to utilize the feature.
The first Intel motherboards with the Remote Wake capability will be shipping in the next month, said Joe Van De Water, director of consumer product marketing for Intel.
These components, which are at the heart of every computer, will most likely be used by smaller computer manufacturers. Bigger names like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. use their own motherboard solutions, but Intel is working to supply them with the technology as well.
The four initial Remote Wake motherboards will be for desktop computers and will need an Internet connection via Ethernet cable, as Wi-Fi doesn’t work in sleep mode.
Van De Water said the computer will know to wake up only for calls from services to which the user has subscribed, so computer-waking prank calls should be impossible.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Jajah is setting itself up as a link between Web companies and the phone system. In April, it signed a deal to become the phone service provider for Yahoo Inc.’s Messenger. Jajah intends to offer the ability to wake up computers to other instant-messaging and Internet voice services, like Google Inc.’s Talk and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Live Messenger, Healy said. It will be able to wake up subscriber computers both for calls dialed with a number and for those that are directed at a user name.
A fully on desktop PC usually consumes more than 60 watts of power, with many models ranging into the hundreds of watts. In the so-called S3 sleep state, they consume around 10 watts.
Logitech Nano Can Dock to Your Laptop
August 13, 2008 by casualchoice
The Logitech V550 Nano is the latest offering for the notebook user. It brings a neat trick along — the V550 comes with a small dock that you can clip on top of your notebook, the mouse itself docks to this clip for easy carrying as you move your laptop around. When so docked, the mouse switches off to conserve battery power.
The V550 also comes with those tiny USB dongles which nestle almost-flush with the notebook.
Intex Launches 22-inch TFT-LCD Monitors
August 13, 2008 by casualchoiceIntex Technologies has launched two 22″ wide-screen TFT-LCD monitors – Intex IT 22 LCT and 2201.
Intex IT- 22 LCT comes with HDMI connectivity enabling a single cable support for various sources like set-top boxes, DVD players, video game consoles, etc. Other features are a 3 ms response time, 1680 x 1050 (WXGA) resolution, dual speakers and in-built TV Tuner card. The monitor comes with a price tag of Rs. 18,000 (MOP).
The Intex 2201 does not feature a TV Tuner card, but does include DVI port connectivity – providing a single connector for various audio and video formats and a 5 ms response time. The other features remain the same as the Intex IT- 22 LCT. The 2201 comes at an MOP of Rs. 12,600.
Sanjay Kumar, DGM and Head of PC business division, said,”The trend in Indian market is fast moving towards big and wide screen monitors. The new 22″ series with advanced features has been designed keeping in consideration user preferences like multitasking, with no compromise on the performance quality. The launch is in line with our commitment to provide quality display solutions and Life version 2.0 products, to our customers.”
Gigabyte Introduces GTX280-based Cards
August 13, 2008 by casualchoiceGigabyte has launched their next generation graphic accelerators, the GV-N28-1GH-B and GV-N26-896H-B. Equipped with Nvidia’s latest GTX 280 graphics processor, the Gigabyte GV-N28-1GH-B features 1 GB GDDR3 memory and 240 stream processors, while the GV-N26-896H-B is equipped with the Nvidia GTX 260, and features 896MB GDDR3 memory and 192 stream processors.
The GV-N28-1GH-B and GV-N26-896H-B support Nvidia’s PhysX Technology, enabling a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience. Both cards are also compliant with CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) Technology, which helps the GT280/260 to accelerate the most demanding system tasks such as video transcoding for up to 7x performance enhancement over traditional CPUs.
The cards also offer 3-way Nvidia SLI Technology, 3-way AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) for the world’s fastest gaming solution under Windows Vista with solid, state-of-the-art drivers, support DirectX 10 and adopt the latest Unified Shader architecture with full support for Shader Model 4.0.
Gigabyte products are distributed in India by Avnet (India), Ingram Micro, Redington. The Gigabyte GV-N28-1GH-B is priced at Rs. 49,425 and the GV-N26-896H-B is priced Rs. 29,425.
Asus Releases Gaming Desktop
August 13, 2008 by casualchoiceAsus looking to capture the burgeoning gaming PC market in India has released its ARES CG6155 desktop. This desktop seeks to combine an array of top-notch components to provide gamers with performance and stability. It sports a unique exterior design, which is inspired by ancient and modern armor with both Eastern and Western influences, and presents an aesthetic appeal.
The ARES CG6155 desktop boasts of an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and up to 4TB of storage space. This powerful specification is complimented by two power supplies, 3-way SLI with GeForce GTX280s and an NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra board. The ARES CG6155 will be preloaded with Microsoft Vista Ultimate.
Logitech Releases Mac-specific Webcam
August 13, 2008 by casualchoiceLogitech has unveiled its first Mac-compatible webcam with premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss optics.
The Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam for Mac has a 2-megapixel sensor which helps in high resolution capture. It is assisted by Logitech’s RightLight2 Technology, which enables the webcam to adjust intelligently in dim or harshly backlighted situations and supports iChat and Skype.
“With this new webcam for Mac computers, we’ve integrated our most advanced video technologies to truly enrich your video-calling experience,” said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of Logitech’s Internet Communications business unit. “The lens and autofocus, the sensor and the lighting software all contribute to create image-perfect detail and clarity. Whether you’ve used a standalone or an embedded webcam in the past, you’ll be amazed at the difference in quality our new webcam makes.”
The webcam carries a suggested retail price of $129.99.
Computex 08: MSI Releases Wind Laptop
August 13, 2008 by casualchoiceMSI has unveiled the MSI Wind codename U100 at Computex 2008. It will be available in 2 different versions and will be differentiated on the basis of its OS, i.e. either Linux or Windows XP.The Windows XP version of the MSI Wind is priced at $499 MSRP, and will be available for purchase starting June 16th. The Linux based MSI Wind will be available later for $399 MSRP.
The Windows version of the MSI Wind features an 80GB 2.5 SATA hard drive, 1.6Ghz Intel Atom CPU and 10-inch screen. The Wind’s display features embedded LED power-saving backlight technology, which provides color quality and brightness, a 1.3M webcam, Bluetooth capabilities, 3 USB ports and a 4-in-1 card reader.
With this launch I am sure that MSI can now breathe easy. I mean after all they were unwilling to confirm what was the worst kept secret – MSI using the Intel Atom processor, which was all but announced at IDF earlier.
Computex 08: Acer Unveils Aspire One
August 13, 2008 by casualchoiceAcer has introduced the Aspire One, a new Mobile Internet Device or MID. The company is offering a full software application suite and a battery of up to six hours.
The new product also comes with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi built-in. In its hardware specifications the Acer Aspire One has an 8.9-inch CrystalBrite LED backlit display with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels, an integrated webcam, is powered by an Intel Atom processor, Linux or Windows XP Home and will sport either 512MB or 1GB of RAM. Storage options include an 8 GB SSD or a 80 GB HDD.
"We want the tools we develop to be truly useful in the real world," said Jim Wong, Senior Corporate VP and President of IT Products Global Operations, Acer Inc. "When developing new products we always follow a clear principle: we look at everyday life and current usage models of our customers, anticipate future trends and needs and then blend the best available technology with software intelligence to simplify their future. This time we came up with something really special – the Aspire one – an Internet device that delivers true mobile and a seamless wireless experience for all online users."
"The Acer Aspire One netbook designed for internet use will help drive growth in the exciting new netbook category," said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager, Mobile Platforms Group, Intel Corp. "Purpose built Intel Atom processors are enabling our customers to innovate and together we will bring the next billion users online."
