Obama Takes Questions on Reddit, Briefly Crashes Site

 

Here is another case where sudden load can at times crash the site,

By Jay Alabaster

August 30, 2012 08:27 AM ET

IDG News Service - President Barack Obama, currently on the campaign trail ahead of the upcoming November elections, made a brief virtual appearance on Reddit, a popular online discussion site, on Wednesday.

The president appeared on a forum entitled "I am Barack Obama, President of the United States -- AMA." He appeared under the site's "ask me anything" format, where a popular figure fields random questions from Reddit users, for about 30 minutes, answering questions from users about money in politics, the space program, support for small businesses, and beer at the White House.

Obama's forum had over 22,500 comments on it 15 hours after he appeared, compared to the hundreds of comments on other front-page topics on the site.

"Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too. We will fight hard to make sure that the internet remains the open forum for everybody -- from those who are expressing an idea to those to want to start a business," he said in a response to one query.

Reddit, which is known for supporting liberal causes, was temporarily inaccessible due to a surge of page views while he was answering questions, according to user comments.

Obama offered his condolences to victims of Hurricane Isaac, and said his toughest decision has been to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying it had been effective but "knowing of the heroes that have fallen is something you never forget." He also answered lighter questions about his favorite basketball player -- Michael Jordan -- and balancing family life with his presidential responsibilities.

Question-and-answer forums on the site typically ask for proof of the speaker's identity, and Obama posted a message on his official Twitter account, as well as a picture of him hunched over an Apple laptop, apparently answering questions.

The campaign, which is relying heavily on grassroots online funding, set up a registration page for users of the site, titled "Redditors for Obama."

Obama said he participated in the forum after a campaign rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Reddit consists of a vast collection of forums on different topics. Registered users vote and comment on subjects and entries they find interesting, and the most popular items rise to the front page.

Zuckerberg Facebook Post Crashes Startup Website

 

I really don’t know whats so special about this event and why should IGrill site crash,maybe its just curiosity of the people to follow someone who is shining right now in today’s market.But as Performance Engineer its interesting incident, just sudden curiosity can generate so much traffic.

Anyways here is link for Press Release for this incident.

Zuck: "Awesome." Traffic: Off the charts

By Scott Budman

| Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012 | Updated 12:34 PM PDT

kind of like Oprah's book club, but for apps.

Mark Zuckerberg, taking to the social network he founded, to praise a startup's product. Big deal? Just ask iGrill, which saw traffic to its website go so high, the thing briefly crashed.

Zuck posted (on his Facebook page, natch) about iGrill, an 80 dollar piece of hardware that, when paired with an app, lets you keep track of the food you're grilling via bluetooth. So you could be in the kitchen or by the pool, and not lose track of the meat you're grilling.

The reaction was swift. iGrill says it typically gets about 70,000 hits on its website a month. After Zuckerberg's posting, traffic zoomed to 1,000 hits A MINUTE. Enough to temporarily crash the server.

Tens of thousands of people quickly "liked" the Facebook posting, and now iGrill is in the spotlight.

According to iGrill CEO Christopher Allen, the Zuckerberg endorsement was a surprise, and there's no financial arrangement between the two. It looks to be a good week for sales of iGrill, and of Fred steaks, which Zuckerberg says he was cooking at the time.

Scott can be found grilling on Twitter: @scottbudman

New York Voters Crash Online Registration System

 

Here is another website which crashed under public load,

More details on this incident in press release is as below,

August 17, 2012 By Noelle Knell

When New York added the ability for voters to register online earlier this month, officials hoped it would add a lot of citizens to the state’s voter rolls. According to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, fewer than 64 percent of eligible New York residents are currently registered to vote, which ranks the state 47th in the country in voter registration.

The addition of the new online registration capability was especially timely, given the Aug. 19 deadline for those wishing to participate in the state’s primary election, scheduled for Sept. 13.

“At the DMV, or in their own homes, New Yorkers will now have a convenient and secure way to ensure they are able to register and exercise their right to vote,” said Cuomo in a statement.

And New Yorkers seem to have gotten the message. Twitter activity on Friday suggested that an influx of would-be voters brought the new system to its knees.

“As with all things new, when the announcement was made and publicized, more people than normal tried to get online to apply for registration at the same time,” said Jackie McGinnis, a spokesperson for the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

McGinnis told Government Technology, via email, that the site did experience some temporary capacity issues. The announcement of the new service led to several times more new voter applications per day than it received when the system was in soft launch mode. As of Aug. 17, roughly 1,000 voters have submitted applications.

Officials are hopeful that the online capability will not only enhance access for New Yorkers, but save time for DMV staff members, who manually process 300,000 registration applications annually.

The online system also enables users to make changes to their address and political party affiliation, and offers additional foreign language capabilities. In addition to Spanish language materials, applications are now available in Korean, Chinese and Bengali.

Residents who are registering to vote using the online system must verify their identity with a driver’s license or state-issued identification card. The DMV website notes that its role is not to actually register voters, but rather to process registration applications and forward them to county elections boards for their review.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, 14 other states either offer online voter registration now or have plans to do so in the near future.

New York voters who want to participate in the upcoming presidential election must register by Oct. 12.

Saudi's Mobily awards IBM $280 million IT outsourcing contract

 

Here is another win for IBM from Saudi Arabia’s telecom operator.5 years contract are rare now a days in IT Services market and this win seems to be solid + point for IBM.Seems like its raining projects for IBM Folks,

Below is press release for this win,

Reuters – Sun, Aug 5, 2012

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi telco Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has awarded IBM a five-year contract worth 1.05 billion riyals ($280 million) to outsource its information technology operations, it said in a bourse statement on Sunday.

The contract will be self-financed and will lead to improvements in Mobily's products as well as making the company more flexible, it said without further elaboration.

Mobily, which has a market value of $12.3 billion and is the No. 2 operator in Saudi Arabia, reported a 22-percent rise in second-quarter profit to 1.42 billion riyals last month, while its 2011 annual profit was 5.08 billion riyals.

Parent firm Etisalat could increase its 28 percent stake in the telco, its chief executive told Reuters in July, as the United Arab Emirates' firm focuses its attention on high growth, high population countries like Saudi.

Shares in Mobily dipped 0.8 percent on Sunday, trimming year-to-date gains to 24.3 percent.

($1 = 3.7505 Saudi riyals)

(Reporting by Angus McDowall; Editing by David French)

Olympics fans left fuming as London 2012 ticket website crashes

London Olympics seems to be generating lot of interest among online users and due to this ticketing site of the Olympics crashed.Hmm sometimes back in Media it was reported that Soasta would be testing this website and ensuring that it remains up and running at all times and under all cases,but it seems that something went wrong again or this media release seems to be incorrect.Though we don’t know as what the real reason,but I feel this incident should be part of my collection so adding this.

Below is press release for this crash,

By Jack Leather - 3rd August, 2012

Furious fans are missing out on thousands of tickets because the official website keeps crashing.

Customers were urged to ‘hang in there’ despite claims the site freezes and deletes orders.

Thousands of tickets are being released every day, with demand high for athletics, which begin today.

One in five seats reserved for officials was empty on Wednesday – hailed as a major improvement.

But some 200,000 football tickets have still not been taken up, along with another 75,000 in other sports – despite widespread claims that the Games would be a sell-out.

British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan said yesterday that he remained concerned about the empty seats.

‘I don't feel any more relaxed today than I did two days ago,’ he said.

‘There's some initiatives that LOCOG have tried to take, [culture and sport secretary] Jeremy Hunt is still looking into this, but it is a subject which has got to tax the minds of those who are responsible for the ticketing each and every day between now and the end of the Games.

Atherton issues statement on ALMS site crash

 

Here is another site which possibly went down to user load.

Below is the press release for this incident,

August 04, 2012

With viewers unable to see much of the first hour of Saturday's American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio due to its website crashing, series president/CEO Scott Atherton addressed what happened.

The race was set to be shown both on ALMS.com, rather than ESPN3.com as it had been for prior U.S. races, with ABC TV picking up the broadcast roughly one hour in at 2 p.m. Eastern. Since the series' new TV contract began last year, ALMS.com was the host site for streaming for international viewers, but ESPN3 had the U.S. feed.

"Today at the start of round six of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, our Series website - alms.com – crashed due to server issues," Atherton said. "We are immediately investigating the causes, but we realize that apologies are not enough for our fans and our partners both here and around the world that look to our web site for in-depth news, live timing and scoring, and video coverage of today's race.
"We've prided ourselves on the quality and growth of alms.com, and we know that today's crash is totally unacceptable. On behalf of the Series, I want to express our deep regret to everyone and pledge that like you – our fans – we will not accept another such failure."

Income tax department website crashes

Here is another case of an website crashing under load during peak season.This is an Indian Government Income tax website which crashed under the load of traffic.\

Below is press release for this incident.

MUMBAI: The volume of income-tax applications has increased after the department has made it mandatory for all those who earn over Rs 10 lakh per annum or own assets abroad to file their returns online, causing the department's website to crash intermittently as several assesees try to register before the due date.
But income-tax officers and employees have been helping taxpayers negotiate countdown to their annual income-tax returns all week. Tuesday, July 31, is the last day to file returns. "Application volume has surged, causing the department's website to crash intermittently as several assesees try to register before the due date," said chartered accountant Ashit Desai who could log on in his third try.
There is hope for those who miss the July-31 deadline. The I-T PRO said, "Those who have no outstanding taxes may file their returns after the date , but those who owe tax will have to pay interest on the amount."
The virtual migration has resulted in considerably fewer assesees at the BKC office. "The office at BKC is the one-point form collection centre for salaried people. Businesspersons and those having other sources of income can visit I-T offices in their areas," said a helpdesk officer.
Unlike previous years, when long queues were visible at tax collection counters, a trickle of applicants arrived last week. On Monday,the penultimate day for filing, an average of three or four persons could be seen at each collection counter in BKC.
For the first time, the department had installed tax kiosks manned by tax return preparers (TRPs) to help people fill forms and do basic calculations. The kiosks functioned for three days last week across 12 locations including Andheri, Byculla, Bandra and Navi Mumbai.
Consultation was available free of cost but the TRPs were not authorized to accept returns. They were neither I-T department staffers nor, in some cases, chartered accountants. Assesees had to still visit I-T offices at BKC or Aaykar Bhavan to do so,or assign the task to a CA. But they could engage TRPs for Rs 250. As the help desk was not adequately publicized, few took advantage. "This is the first year we are reaching out, and the aim is to show we are not mere collectors but render service to taxpayers ," said Anand Mudaliar, who oversaw the kiosk at Vidya Vikas Hall, Andheri

‘Basketball Wives’ star Evelyn Lozada’s website crashes due to high traffic

Here is another example as why proper Load Testing is often required before you launch your site.At times crash of the website does generate curiosity among the users and gives some impression that product might be an hit among users and that could be an possible reason for crash,but again matured businesses are those who understand this bias and ensures that his users get consistent service at all times.

Below is press release for this incident,

“Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada recently got married to Chad Ochocinco, who recently signed on with the Miami Dolphins for the new NFL season. On top of her wedding, she has been busy working on her book trilogy, “The Wives Association” and her cosmetics line, “E by Evelyn Cosmetics.” In fact, her makeup venture has been so successful, that her website crashed yesterday because so many people decided to visit the page and purchase products.

“Hey Ev, I'm having trouble getting on to your cosmetic website :(,” wrote on fan to “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada yesterday. However, Evelyn was in full control over the site crashing and she quickly replied to her fans on Twitter, “Site just crashed due to traffic! Will be up in 10 min!” She probably didn't plan on the website to crash, but at least her loyal fans decided to inform her of the crash.

“E by Evelyn Cosmetics” is Evelyn’s attempt to work within the cosmetics industry, something her ex-best friend Jennifer Williams has tried with her “Lucid Cosmetics” line, which is exclusively lip gloss products. Many “Basketball Wives” fans believe that Evelyn is copying Jennifer’s idea because she has decided to go into the cosmetics industry, but Evelyn’s collection is much different than Jennifer’s. For one, her collection features eye shadows in various bright and vibrant colors, whereas Jennifer is solely natural lip glosses.

Evelyn’s website should be up and running again, but with the constant traffic to her website, one could expect that her products would be sold out quickly. Have you tried Evelyn’s makeup products?

Varsity website crash gives a tough time to applicants

Here is another example as How user behavior cannot be efficiently predicted and requirements given to the performance engineering team often fails to take care of worst case scenarios.

Below is press release for this incident,

Students opting for online admissions to various courses offered by the University of Pune (UoP) have been facing a harrowing time for the last couple of days due to frequent crashing of the varsity’s website.

The problem has been arising due to the inability of the server to accommodate the increased traffic. Taking cognizance of the problem, the university has decided to increase the capacity of the server.

While talking to DNA, UoP’s technical staff said, “The problem began as the site is used for multiple purposes right from online admissions to applying for convocation, revaluation, online results, to college related work.”

“We had to increase the bandwidth which was 25 megabyte per second to its upper limit to accommodate the increased traffic,” said the staff members refusing to give details of the upper limit.

According to the technical staff, “Students from all streams BA, B.Com, B.Sc, BCS and law management were trying to access the website at the same time which resulted in the crashing of the site. Actually, we had approached all our telecom providers to increase the bandwidth which was supposed to be increased by Thursday, but they couldn’t due to some problem. It was increased by Friday evening.”

IBM, CEMEX ink $1B deal for outsourced IT services

Here is mother of all recent IT deals.CEMEX is one of the leading manufacturer of cement  and bagging the IT services deal with it is huge win for any IT Company.Congrats to IBM folks.

Below is press release for this deal,

IBM has just inked a new 10-year agreement with global cement manufacturer CEMEX to upgrade CEMEX’s current back-office management and IT services.

Some of those services that IBM will be providing include solutions for finance and accounting, human resource back-office services, application development, and maintenance services.
The deal is worth $1 billion, and CEMEX is expecting to generate up to $90 million in annual recurring savings -- or 40 percent in cost reductions. CEMEX is touted as the third-largest cement manufacturer in the world with operations in more than 50 countries.
IBM says that the deal represents how the world's largest companies continue to save billions on IT management with outsourcing.
CEMEX is also hoping the partnership will enable the company to be more competitive by allowing for more effective management and better customer service.

CEMEX chairman and CEO Lorenzo H. Zambrano explained further in prepared remarks, citing that "this agreement with IBM will enable CEMEX to focus on its core businesses of cement, ready-mix concrete, and aggregates; improve its financial position; and respond more quickly to changing market need.

For IBM, the deal with CEMEX represents a few things -- but mainly how IBM is working to present itself as the provider for solutions and platforms that can manage complex global transitions.

Similarly, it shows how emerging markets are essential to IBM's growth strategy as the Silicon Valley giant posits that the technology infrastructures of emerging countries far exceed that of developed countries, forcing increased global competition.

 

Technorati Tags: IT Services,Outsourcing

Royal Philips Electronics Teams up with Cognizant and Wipro

Based on the various reports, it seems that Philips has signed up multiyear  IT Transformation Program with Wipro and Cognizant.Both these companies seems to have bagged the contract in different areas of the program.

Below is Press release for Cognizant,

Teaneck, N.J.—July 24, 2012—Royal Philips Electronics, a global provider of healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle solutions, partnered with Cognizant Technology Solutions to drive a broad range of technology-enabled business transformation and growth programs.

Under the terms of the multi-year engagement, Cognizant, an IT, consulting and business process outsourcing services provider, will supply a comprehensive range of consulting and application services globally to help Philips consolidate, rationalize and enhance its IT landscape for improved operational efficiency, business agility and governance to deliver superior customer service. Cognizant’s engagement will enable Philips to transition the IT organization to a platform and output-based managed services model across multiple business lines and corporate functions, enabling Philips to variabilize its cost structure; drive structural savings; and free up resources to create higher value business capabilities.

“Our relationship with Cognizant will allow us to leverage its extensive consulting, domain and technology capabilities for the business transformation program that forms the cornerstone of our endeavor to drive agility, innovation and competitiveness,” said Jeroen Tas, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Philips. “In implementing a paradigm shift in our IT delivery model, Cognizant will help create solutions that enable Philips to capitalize on business opportunities, and win in the marketplace. By optimizing the speed, cost, and quality of our value chain, we are confident of further strengthening the trusted Philips brand globally, and delivering ever greater innovation.”

Additionally, Cognizant will help Philips improve the business value of IT, obtain deeper visibility into its demand chain and respond more effectively to the needs of its markets, businesses and functions. Real-time insight into business performance and operations will allow Philips to accelerate innovation, time-to-market, and decision-making, and increase local relevance of the product portfolio to gain market share.

“We are pleased to have been selected by Philips as a trusted partner,” said Santosh Thomas, Head of Continental Europe, Cognizant. “In an increasingly global and dynamic marketplace, agility holds the key to success, and Cognizant’s managed IT services model provides the agility that enables clients to spearhead strategic initiatives and create competitive advantage. We look forward to leveraging our robust understanding of the consumer goods industry, and our deep technology and consulting expertise to help Philips identify and capitalize on market trends, maximize business impact, and further strengthen its market leadership. This engagement underscores Cognizant’s expanding footprint in Continental Europe, which is a result of our strategic focus on the region as an important market looking to drive cost-savings and innovation on one integrated platform.”

Below is press release for Wipro,

Bangalore, India—July 24, 2012—IT, consulting and outsourcing company Wipro Technologies (ofWipro Ltd.) signed a large multi-year contract withRoyal Philips Electronics as their global prime partner in its transformational program towards enabling enhanced business growth and profitability.

“As Philips continues to drive performance improvements across its businesses, we would like to reiterate our commitment to invest in innovation and customer intimacy that are at the heart of our transformational program,” said Jeroen Tas, Chief Information Officer, Royal Philips Electronics. “We are pleased to bring on board a valuable and like-minded partner like Wipro to help us drive our vision of sustainable growth and profitability.”

Wipro will work with Philips on their transformational roadmap towards optimizing and enhancing all their business processes of ‘idea to market,’ ‘market to order’ and ‘order to cash’ across a wide spectrum of technology enabling platforms that include integration; user interaction; and security & authorization. Wipro will also be the system integrator for key initiatives across these Philips’ businesses and platforms.

“We are delighted to have been chosen as a strategic global prime partner by Philips in their transformational journey,” said N S Bala, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Manufacturing and High-Tech, Wipro Technologies. “Wipro will leverage its strong understanding of the business domain and capability in new and emerging technologies, to enable Philips to become more agile, deliver innovative products and solutions to its customers faster and strengthen their leadership position in the market place.”

 

Technorati Tags: Outsourcing,IT Transformation Program

Displaced Harley-Davidson IT workers offered jobs- Infosys Technologies

 

IT Services business has become real competitive and most of the Companies are outsourcing the entire division or departments where in they don’t have strategic interests or when the core activity of the division do not align with the vision.Using this strategy we can save a lot but again it all depends on how good are you in execution and other operations related managements.Its good to know that Indian Companies are also hiring the affected people specially when Infy is facing rough weather at home.

Below is information below out from this article.

Harley-Davidson Inc. has cut 125 information technology positions as it realigns the division, but the displaced workers have an opportunity to land new jobs with Harley or a company it has hired to handle IT services, a Harley spokesperson said.

Infosys, an India-based global technology company, on Monday announced a 5-year contract to perform IT services for Harley-Davidson, including applications management, infrastructure support and hosting. Infosys, after sealing a contract with Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, is to set up a facility that would be its 18th in the United States. The company will have 125 workers at its Milwaukee facility, including some it expects to migrate from Harley. Infosys also will have a training center.

About 71 local Infosys positions will relate to Harley-Davidson work, said Bob Klein, Harley spokesperson. Harley is also creating 68 IT positions as part of the division’s restructuring.

The displaced Harley workers, including 83 in Milwaukee, have “preferential consideration” for the new positions, Klein said.

“Our expectation is that, while there are no guarantees, ... many would have the opportunity in these other positions,” Klein said.

Klein said IT division leaders have regularly discussed the division’s realignment with staff since the process began last fall.

The decision to outsource IT work was a result of examining Harley’s needs and the industry’s best practices. The move will increase efficiency in managing those functions and will free up internal resources to focus on Harley’s “strategic higher-level IT management,” Klein said.

In negotiating the deal with Infosys, Harley was “insistent” that it open operations in Wisconsin, Klein said.

Infosys will operate a data center in Franklin.

Infosys’ Milwaukee employees will be housed at 10850 W. Park Place. They will utilize a 16,000-square-foot suite in the 197,600-square-foot building, said Jeff Whipple, development associate with Interstate Partners of Waukesha.

 

Technorati Tags: Outsourcing,Jobs

Twitter goes down due to Software Bug

 

Twitter went down due to software bug and had the cascading effect on the functioning of its site.Twitter is no longer a start up company and I assume it must have enough resources to ensure that it has required plan with regard to deployment and subsequent rollback plans in place in case any enhancement or bugs slips in. While I agree that for a site like twitter , its hard to do full testing for each change but again its worthwhile to at least have proper build process in place where in if some build cracks the existing code base, it makes sense to do the rollback immediately.Seems like it did not happen this way today.

The funny thing about this is twitter is down and yet it says tweet it.

Twitter has been suffering outages Thursday. Above, a screen shot of Twitter's status page. (Twitter / June 21, 2012)

By Salvador Rodriguez This post has been corrected. See note below.

June 21, 2012, 2:53 p.m.

Twitter says its intermittent outages Thursday have been caused by a software bug.

The microblogging service has been crashing frequently throughout the day as a result of a "cascaded bug," which is a glitch "that isn’t confined to a particular software element," a spokesman for the company said.

"Its effect 'cascades' into other elements as well," he said.

At one point, I was unable to access the site for more than half an hour, and throughout the day it seemed to be running slower than normal.

Twitter said it would provide updated information about the crashes soon. For now, Twitter's status website continues to say that the issue is ongoing and that the company's engineers are trying to solve it.

The company did not provide information about how widespread the crashes were, how long they lasted or how they have affected its advertisers.

It also was unclear how the crashes affected Kia Motors' ad campaign, which Thursday was promoting the trend "#NBAFinals" leading up to Thursday night's NBA Finals Game 5 between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Twitter did not respond to questions about how its crashes affected Kia Motors' paid campaign.

R and V ticket sales rush crashes system

 

Here is another site which crashed due to live load due to huge demand.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

AN unexpected high demand for tickets to Gisborne’s New Year festival Rhythm and Vines was behind a ticket website crash yesterday.
People had money taken from their accounts and did not receive tickets when earlybird sales for the three-day event began yesterday through the Rhythm and Vines website.
Frustrated ticket buyers took to social media to vent their frustration, with several angry comments left on the festival’s website.
The Manawatu Standard reported Rhythm and Vines sales and marketing manager Peter Hall saying the “regrettable” situation was caused by a massive underestimation of demand.
Last year during presales about 4000 tickets were sold but demand yesterday had been double that, he said.
An initial error in the new ticketing system meant the site had to be shut down soon after tickets went on sale. When it was relaunched about 4000 people were trying to access the site at the same time, which overloaded the server.
The demand meant that when some people paid, their credit card details were verified at a secure third-party site but the verification was not sent back to the Rhythm and Vines site.
Mr Hall assured ticket buyers that they would receive their ticket confirmation soon and the customer service team was working through every payment manually to confirm them.
Festival director Hamish Pinkham said he was sorry about then technical issues.
“The system was fully functional by end of the day. We appreciate the huge interest in attending what is going to be a memorable 10 year celebration this year.”

TCS wins the "People's Choice" award from the US National Science Foundation

 

Here is another press release regarding the TCS wining the people choice award.Feels good about Tata Consultancy Services.

Below is extract from press,

"Velu the Welder", an interactive game to teach welding, wins the People's Choice award at the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge

MUMBAI, India, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A team of associates from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (bse:532540)(nse:TCS), the leading IT services, consulting and business solutions firm, have won the "People's Choice" award at the ninth International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge with their interactive game called: Velu the Welder. The international challenge was jointly organised by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of the journal Science, to celebrate the grand tradition of visualization, specifically for communicating science, engineering, and technology for education and journalistic purposes.

The TCS team developed an interactive game called "Velu the Welder" for personal computers and popular gaming consoles to help school drop-outs in India develop a highly marketable trade skill.

The 2011 Challenge received over 200 entries from 33 countries in five categories, which were evaluated based on visual impact, effective communication of a scientific idea, and overall originality. Visualizations with the most votes from the public received the People's Choice award. This year for the first time participants were permitted to submit entries online, while the public was allowed to vote for its favourite images as "People's Choice" winners.

The awards criteria was also based on the visual impact, originality and clarity. The entries weren't just limited to photographs. Contest categories also included illustrations, informational graphics, videos and even interactive video games.

Ajoy Mukherjee, Executive Vice President and Head, Global Human Resources said, "The advancement of information technology tools combined with visualization and innovation enhances the effectiveness of learning especially in the area of vocational training." He added, "At TCS we try to foster a culture of innovation, create space and opportunities where individuals are able to bring fruition to their thoughts and ideas. The award winning interactive game "Velu the Welder," is one such example where TCSers have combined the power of visualization and technology to bring about an innovative learning method."

Selection: A committee of members from Science and NSF screened the entries and, in a new departure this year, the selected finalists were posted on NSF's Web site and visitors were invited to vote for their top choice in each category. A total of 3200 votes came in; entries that received the most votes were named the "People's Choice." Independently, an outside panel of experts in scientific visualization reviewed the finalists and selected the winners.

Note on "Velu the Welder":

Welding is a method used for binding metal or nonmetal structures. In this game an apprentice, who goes by the name Velu, gets basic training in the art of welding. The game is designed to expose a person to basic skill sets aimed at getting acquainted with the craft of welding. Developed as a technology demonstrator for the National Skills Development Initiative of India, this game could be used to train millions of apprentices in a cost effective way. The objective of the game is to introduce the apprentice to two types of welding -- gas and arc, and is designed to have five tasks. In the first two tasks he learns hand coordination and movement using gas welding. In the remaining sets he is exposed to arc welding to join four metal pieces together to build a frame. The game is best played using a Nintendo Wii Remote which mimics the actual welding gun. The console's motion-sensing controller makes players feel like they're holding a real welding torch.

Learning to weld takes patience and nimble fingers. Some time spent on a Wii gaming console might not hurt, either. In this interactive challenge, the brainchild of developers at Tata Consultancy Services in Chennai, India, players step into a virtual apprentice workshop. They follow in the footsteps of Velu, a young Indian man getting a crash course in welding. The aim is to provide marketable skills to school dropouts in India.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPO, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model(TM), recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata Group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 238,500 of the world's best trained consultants in 42 countries. The Company generated consolidated revenues of US $10.17 billion for year ended 31 March, 2012 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com

TCS recognized as "Big Four" IT Services brand

 

Its good to know that Tata consultancy Services is recognized among top 5 IT services brand.Being from India, I am aware of the depth and breadth of the expertise TCS has accumulated over the years of working with global companies.I think they truly deserve it to be on top 5 list.

Below is extract from media,

- Ranked the #4 most valuable brand in global IT services.
- First emerging markets headquartered firm to enter the top of the league
- Brand value stands at US$ 4,068 million in 2012, up from US$ 3,718 million in 2011

MUMBAI, India, May 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization, announced, today, that it has been named the 4th most valuable IT services brand worldwide by Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation firm. Brand Finance assesses the dollar value of the reputation, image and intellectual property of the world's leading companies. Brand Finance's brand valuations are frequently peer-reviewed by top audit practices, accepted by various regulatory bodies and used by leading global brands as a performance benchmark.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120507/LA01945)

N. Chandrasekaran, CEO & Managing Director of TCS said: "We are extremely pleased with this ranking as it confirms the rapid evolution and recognition of our brand at a global level. In line with the symbolic crossing of the US$ 10 billion revenue mark this year and the global top four position TCS now holds in terms of market capitalization, net income and employees, this achievement on the brand front is a watershed moment in our company's evolution towards a top position in its industry globally."

Through its work with clients, TCS has developed a strong reputation in the IT Services market for reliably delivering business results, providing leadership to drive transformation and partnering for client success. The company has been investing heavily to build up its brand presence worldwide through a full range of activities, which include an award winning global Public Relations programme, major sports sponsorships and a wide range of corporate social responsibility activities. The company's significant portfolio of sports partnerships over the past 5 years have cut across Formula 1 racing, Pro-cycling, Cricket and Running; while its community initiatives have ranged from health and wellness to youth education and environment conservation initiatives.

"The value of the TCS brand has increased rapidly over the past 3 years. Our 2012 rankings marks the first time an emerging markets headquartered firm has entered the top league in IT services," said David Haigh, CEO and founder of Brand Finance. "With a strong brand strategy and a refined sponsorship portfolio TCS has been able to improve both brand awareness and its profile globally. TCS' impressive brand value has gone from strength to strength; firmly establishing the company in the same league as the top western IT services firms - making them sit up and take note."

The world's foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing - S. C. Johnson and Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Philip Kotler said: "Unreported on most balance sheets, Brand value and reputation yet remain the most important assets for a company in today's hyper-competitive globalized marketplace. In this Marketing 3.0 world, successful modern brands need to reach out not only to the hearts and minds but also the spirits of their target audience. TCS is clearly a company that is getting this right, reflected in significant gains to its brand equity, value and reputation."

2012 Brand Finance Ranking – IT Services – The "Big Four" (Top 4 ranked companies)

Source: http://brandirectory.com/brands/industry_group/IT_Services

Tata to open 300-person office

 

TCS to open a 300 person office in Minneapolis US.

Tata Consultancy Services will open a 300-person office in Bloomington this summer.

The India-based company recently signed a 50,000-square-foot lease at the 8300 Tower in the Normandale Lake Office Park, saidConnie Grady, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq who represented Tata in the lease deal.

Officials at Tata declined to comment on the new office until it officially opens in late summer.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an IT services and consulting firm. It’s part of the Tata Group, one of India’s largest industrial conglomerates.

TCS has more than 238,000 consultants in 42 countries.

Its good to know that TCS is opening a new office in US.

Genworth Names Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) Strategic Supplier Of The Year

 

Another press release which shows that lot many clients has deep faith in TCS,

RICHMOND, Va., May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) today announced that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) is the recipient of its 2011 Strategic Supplier Partnership Initiative (SSPI) award.  The award recognizes key suppliers that show commitment to embodying Genworth values and demonstrating innovation, continuous improvement and cost performance.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120515/PH07429)

TCS is a leading IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization and one of the top 10 technology firms in the world. TCS provides Genworth a broad range of application development and 24×7 technical support services across key administration platforms globally.  TCS also provides strategic thought leadership across many key business and technology initiatives by leveraging its deep Insurance domain expertise and its investments into new and innovative technologies. TCS is one of Genworth’s largest services providers and recently celebrated 15 years of partnering together.

“TCS has earned an enterprise-wide reputation from Genworth for delivering technology services and solutions that drive business value and results. We applaud TCS for having consistently demonstrated thought leadership and agility in meeting Genworth’s strategic priorities from consulting on retail care coordination applications to helping support our formulation of a Global Mortgage Insurance IT support strategy” says Lance Davis, Genworth Senior Vice President, Finance Shared Services.

“Receiving Genworth’s Strategic Supplier award is an honor and tribute to the quality of work we do for them,” said Suresh Muthuswami, President, Insurance and Healthcare Group at TCS.   “This award is a testament to the strength of our 15+ year relationship with Genworth across the globe, and to our commitment to delivering strategic and innovative services to help our Insurance clients operate their business with greater efficiency and agility.”

“The partnership between TCS and Genworth has excelled because of the shared values and strength of purpose that our two companies have. The dedication and hard work of our teams, our innovative solutions and our global reach has enabled us to deliver on our promise of Experience Certainty,” said Srikant Venkatesh, Client Partner, TCS-Genworth.  

The finalists for the SSPI award were SIRVA Relocation, IBM Corporation, and Marsh & McLennan Companies subsidiaries, Marsh and Mercer.

About Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) is a leading Fortune 500 insurance holding company dedicated to helping people secure their financial lives, families and futures.  Genworth has leadership positions in offerings that assist consumers in protecting themselves, investing for the future and planning for retirement — including life insurance, long term care insurance, financial protection coverages, and independent advisor-based wealth management — and mortgage insurance that helps consumers achieve home ownership while assisting lenders in managing their risk and capital.

Genworth has approximately 6,400 employees and operates through three divisions: Insurance and Wealth Management, which includes U.S. Life Insurance, Wealth Management and International Protection segments; Global Mortgage Insurance, which includes U.S. and International Mortgage Insurance segments; and the Corporate and Runoff division. Its products and services are offered through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors and sales specialists. Genworth Financial, Inc., which traces its roots back to 1871, became a public company in 2004 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth Financial, Inc. releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the “Investors” section of genworth.com

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPO, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 238,500 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $10.17 billion for year ended March 31, 2012 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at http://www.tcs.com.

Spotless and TCS announce SAP Go-Live

 

Here is another press release from TCS and Spotless for successfully implementing the various SAP Modules,

Mumbai, May 15, 2012: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading IT services, consulting, and business solutions firm announced today that the Spotless Group, an international services company specializing in outsourced facility management, has gone live with the first phase of its SAP transformation program.

Spotless selected SAP business management software to assist with its business and IT platform transformation program. To date, the project’s scope of work has covered SAP Finance, Procurement, Service Asset Management, Sales and Distribution, Portal, Process Integration, Reporting and Human Resources. TCS is providing Spotless with SAP-focused implementation expertise, consulting and ongoing support for the SAP solution.

Spotless Cleaning Services and corporate divisions are the first operations benefitting from the IT platform transformation, which has been designed to improve business agility as well as deliver net financial benefits in the medium-term and beyond.

Josef Farnik, Spotless Managing Director and CEO, said the SAP solution is expected to streamline Spotless’ business operations as well as enhance information sharing and business administration efficiencies. Josef Farnik said, “The Spotless business and IT transformation project has been designed to standardize core business processes across the organization enabled by a common technology platform, thereby unlocking substantial recurring financial benefits. Other benefits include centralizing the management of client and supplier data. To date, the Spotless implementation team has conducted over 10,000 tests and migrated 125,000 data fields into SAP.”

The next implementation will go live in 2013. This will involve moving other core Spotless businesses - Managed Services, Laundry Services and Food Services - across to the SAP platform.

Deborah Hadwen, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Consultancy Services – Australia and New Zealand, said, “TCS has extensive implementation experience with SAP technology and is one of the largest providers of SAP services in Australia. Our strong global alliance relationship and delivery model allows us to provide global experience locally to ensure delivery quality to clients, as we have with Spotless. We have been delighted to assist Spotless with this major technology transformation program.”

About Spotless
Spotless is a leading international services company comprised of two distinct business operations, Facility Services and Retailer Services. Spotless Facility Services supplies single, multi and integrated facilities management, asset maintenance, catering, cleaning and laundry services across a broad range of industry sectors. Spotless employs approximately 40,000 people, supplemented by a network of skilled sub-contractors to deliver over 125 Facility Services. For more information, visit us at www.spotless.com.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPO, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 238,500 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 42 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $10.17 billion for year ended March 31, 2012 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.

TCS to manage Lakshmi Vilas Bank's back-office operations

 

Another order which goes to TCS,

CHENNAI, MAY 16: 

Tata Consultancy Service will centralize the entire back-office operations and document management system at Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

This will facilitate centralizing processes such as account opening, know your customer compliance, loans and advances, trade finance and ATM card management, says a press release issued by the bank.

The agreement signed between the bank and TCS will enable all the branches of the bank to collect applications or request forms from customers and forward them to the Central Processing Cell for processing. The cell will be responsible for all centralized business processes and data Centre will provide and maintain IT-related services such as servers, data storage and network.

The entire process will be implemented in two phases, the release says

NASDAQ fines Morgan Stanley over coding error in trading software

 

Here is another case,where a positive testing results could at times leads to penalty.It’s a classic case where in program submits a very large number of orders probably due to the some looping condition often implemented in the codes(Again this is my guess).I have seen this issue in some of program which I wrote.Rather than inserting one row of data I inserted around 3 rows of data and which in all resulted in 6 rows of data in front end.All these types of errors are very hard to identify because they disguise themselves as regular requirement.Only people with deep expertise in the domain and with strong technical skillsets can identify where the issue lies.I often say in software world, one error can have many causes and they have all related closely to each other.

Below is media extract for coding error,

Morgan Stanley International has been fined APS35,000 by NASDAQ OMX Stockholm after a coding error in its algorithm software caused unusual volatility in the market on 30th November last year.

The glitch resulted in Morgan Stanley accidentally submitting a large number of orders and executed a very large number of trades in a group of Stockholm listed shares, which caused the volatility.

NASDAQ immediately spotted the unusual trading pattern, but was unable to contact the Morgan Stanley trader responsible for submitting the orders, which resulted in a breach of the Exchange's Nordic Member Rules.

The rules state that members conducting direct market access trading should ensure that they can be contacted at any time during trading hours.

NASDAQ also noted that although Morgan Stanley's internal systems and controls enabled them to detect and independently terminate the trading, it felt that the incident itself highlighted that the firm did not have technical and administrative arrangements implemented to stop it from happening in the first place.

Cognizant tops KPMG's client satisfaction rankings in the Nordics

 

One of the criteria often used the IT Services companies to measure the performance or real growth of its accounts is client satisfaction index.Delivery teams of the IT Companies always ensure that their client satisfaction score always remains high and they go to any extent to keep the client happy.I have seen this very often in IT World.These scores means a lot.

Its good to know that Cognizant has topped the KPMG’s client satisfaction ranking in Nordics region. I am sure now this award from KPMG will help Cognizant to grow the business in Nordics Region.

Below is extract from the link,

Cognizant secures high scores on all major performance indicators.

Cognizant tops KPMG's client satisfaction rankings in the Nordics

STOCKHOLM -- Cognizant , a provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, announced that it has topped the customer satisfaction and recommendation rankings in the four-country region (Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden) in KPMG's Outsourcing 2012 study of service provider performance in the Nordic region.

While Cognizant topped the general satisfaction ranking with a score of 80 percent (significantly above the average industry satisfaction rate of 68 percent) and client recommendation ranking with a like score of 80 percent (significantly above the average client recommendation rate of 67 percent), notably, all Cognizant clients among those surveyed were satisfied with its services. Further, the company secured high scores on all major performance indicators, including customer satisfaction, recommendation, relationship management, innovation, service quality, price, flexibility, transition, and governance. This independent study evaluated 28 global and local service providers based on an assessment of more than 900 unique client-provider relationships. As part of the study, CFOs, CIOs or their direct reports at over 340 of the top IT spending organisations in the region were interviewed.

"We are proud to have topped KPMG's overall customer satisfaction rankings across the Nordics region in a very short period of time since we began our operations here," said Jayajyoti Sengupta, Cognizant's Country Manager for the Nordics. "This recognition validates the significant investments we have made in bringing our industry-leading, client-focused processes to the Nordics. Our high-touch relationship model, deep domain expertise and consulting skills, unique reinvestment philosophy, and our ability to build strong multicultural teams around the globe have helped our customers navigate structural changes in the economy and their industries, enabling them to stay efficient, effective, and innovative. As a result, we have become one of the fastest growing companies in the region, while maintaining the highest client satisfaction and recommendation levels in our industry."

"Cognizant received excellent feedback from their clients and high scores for all key performance indicators," said Carl-Henrik Hallstrom, Head of Business Effectiveness and People and Change at KPMG. "Cognizant also had not one dissatisfied client, which makes the company the top performer among the top 28 global, regional, and local IT outsourcing service providers that we evaluated."

Complaints website crashes on first day of exams

 

Here is another example of website crashing on the first day of its going live.Again its almost the same case that either performance testing was not done or it was done assuming perfect requirements in terms of number of users, time they spend on the site etc etc.

Below is extract from the media,

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Over 10,000 complaints were received by the school pupils' union LAKS on Monday, the first day of final exams, causing the website to crash.

Most of the complaints came from pre-university (vwo) and pre-college (havo) students. Vwo students said the summary in the Dutch exam was too difficult and some havo students took four hours to complete their art exam because the computers were too slow.

This year there were also complaints about the use of a film in which Lady Gaga was shown with her legs wide apart. This was offensive, said the complainants.

Nearly 207,000 final year pupils are taking school leaving exams over the next two weeks. The LAKS hotline has become a traditional part of the exam process.

© DutchNews.nl

Day 1 of filling forms for Mhada flats marred by website crash

Below is the interesting website crash due to lot many people turning up to book the flat in Maharashtra Housing and Area development Authority.I call this interesting crash because this reminds me of the days when Government officials/Bank officials use to think that if the person makes the request via web channels or via internet then probably he is very rich and well to do financially so he cannot claim the subsidized government benefits.Mhada flats are highly subsidized flats,so this crash is bit surprising to me that government is accepting application via online channels.

At the time of writing this post, site was still not accessible and I feel site will be down no matter how many times, its brought up.Its just that this there is just too much demand for flats specially when they are built by Mhada and sold at subsidized rate.

Below is media release for this crash,

 

Day 1 of filling forms for Mhada flats marred by website crash

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, May 04, 2012

Email to Author

First Published: 01:57 IST(4/5/2012)
Last Updated: 01:58 IST(4/5/2012)

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The first day of filling online application forms for low-cost Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) houses was nearly lost as a technical glitch prevented prospective buyers from accessing the website.
Homebuyers eager to apply for the 2,593 low-cost flats

were unable to access the website, https://lottery.mhada.gov.in, for hours on Thursday.

“It is disgusting that a premier agency like Mhada cannot beef up its website and we have to waste time in this process,” said Pritam Sharma, a media professional who wants to apply for a house at Mira Road.

Ragini Dave, who went to a cybercafe to log in, was also disappointed.

“If this is the case at the very first step, I dread to think of the various difficulties I would encounter if I do win a flat,” said Dave.

Mhada, however, has defended itself.

“Since it is the first day of applying, there is a lot of rush and the website may have not been able to take such a huge load,” said Vaishali Wagh, public relations officer, Mhada. She said situation would ease in the coming days.

With real estate rates reaching exorbitant levels, Mhada houses are in demand as they cost less than half of that charged by private builders.

This can be gauged from the fact that 12,216 houses put for sale in the last four years attracted more than nine lakh applicants.

To eliminate errors in filling of application forms experienced during the process in the previous lotteries, it was decided two years back to compulsorily ensure online filling.

However, a senior Mhada official said that the IT team has not been able to take corrective action in this regard.

“The webpage did not open and such excuses are simply not accepted,” said the official.

“It spoils the name of the organisation and some action should be have been taken to avoid such embarrassing situations,” he added.

Wipro Buys Promax Applications For Rs 190 Cr

 

One of the trends over the years I have seen is that if for any reasons you believe  that we are not growing sufficiently in our existing setup/market, then its always better to go ahead and buy some companies which are fairly good in market reputation and has fairly good balance sheet with some amount of assets and profit.IT companies are following the similar trend with the only difference that most Indian IT companies always look for smaller sized companies across the Europe/US continents.Again its fair enough reading and expansion plans given IT penetration in India is almost less than 5%.

Below is copy pasted content from here,

Wipro, fourth largest IT services exporter, has signed an agreement to buy Australia's Promax Applications Group for AUD35 million (approximately Rs 190 crore).
Wipro's announcement that it has acquired Australian analytics company Promax Applications Group in an all cash deal paying 2.3 times its revenues, comes as no surprise. Wipro already gets about $600 million from the analytics business which is approximately 10 per cent of its overall revenues from the IT business and employs around 8000 people in this practice and in the past has been one of the most aggressive M & A player amongst Tier I companies.
In the past it has famously under its 'string of pearls' been agressive in acquiring companies some of which like the NerveWire acquisition has not been very successful, whereas some of the others including its Spectramind acquisition has helped leapfrog growth.
IT Companies are looking to value add for clients struggling in a slow growth environment. Analytics help in mining data collected by the clients, analysing and help them serve their customers better.
Cognizant for instance, bought MarketRx and Core Logic mainly for their analytics practice. Rishad Premji, the M&A head of Wipro, said that the company is focused on 3 areas in its acquisition strategy: Addressing domain gaps, identifying opportunities in analytics, enterprise mobility and platform based solutions in cloud, as well as geographical expansion in markets like France and Germany.
Wipro said it would take Promax's productized service beyond the existing base in industries like food and beverage, pharma as well as technology and cross sell to other existing client base. Promax has 70 employees who will be absorbed into Wipro.
Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor.
Soaps to software conglomerate Wipro Ltd, last week announced its results for the financial year 2011-12, wherein it declared revenues of $7.37 billion (of which IT services revenue alone were $5.92 billion) and a net income of $1.1 billion. Wipro does not provide guidance for the full year but said it expects revenues to be flat in the IT services business in the first quarter between $1.52 bn to $1.55 billion. The company made the announcement after Wipro shares had closed the day down 0.41 per cent to close at Rs 405.1, on a day when the Sensex was in the green up 0.76 per cent to end the day at 17318.8 points and when the IT index had also closed the day in positive territory by 2.37 per cent.

‘TourettesHero’ Website Goes Viral, Crashes Server

 

Here is the site which went viral and finally huge deluge of hits crashed the server

The crash of the this site really was a disappointment at least to me, as purpose of this site was a social cause and to create the awareness of the Tourette’s Syndrome.

So I feel that I need to help these types of web sites which are in community service or are the sites which serves the social cause.So I request you that if you feel that you need the help of software performance engineer  at any point of time to achieve your social cause, Please do ping me at kiran.badi@vasanti.org

I would be happy to help you achieve your social objectives.I have worked on scaling  small and large enterprise IT  Sites to the large number of users.If you need my resume or would like to have a look at my previous work or you need any reference from me before you seek my help, Please do not hesitate to contact me at above email id.

NHS: Cancelling CSC's £3.1bn health IT contract could cost more than continuation

 

At times I have seen both service provider and service buyers get held up in such a situations where doing the work causes more loss to provider than profit and also at times gives more pain to service buyer for the simple reason that contract was not clear in describing the clear exit criteria or measurement criteria or at times phase gates are just copy pasted materials from some earlier successful projects.

For big projects lot of things goes in contract negotiation in addition to technical capability of the teams/companies,capability to deliver, capacity to recover at any costs, capacity to fight back at odd events ,capacity to purse the legal way etc etc.

Here is classic case of ignoring or overlooking the importance of contract.

Cancelling CSC's highly troubled £3.1 billion NHS deal could cost more than finishing in full the next five years of contracted work, according to health service chiefs.The claims, made late yesterday at a heated hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, have been questioned by MPs.Since the programme began in 2002, CSC has been paid approximately £800 million, it was revealed. The PAC said the supplier's £3.1 billion contract is due to be reduced by over £500 million as part of renegotiations, leaving approximately £1.8 billion to be paid if work is delivered.Calls had emerged in recent months for the government to consider cancelling CSC's contract following a series of missed deadlines. The National Audit Office last week concluded the National Programme for IT - which also involves controversial contracts with BT - would not deliver value for money or the planned clinical benefits.Christine Connelly, NHS chief information officer, told the PAC yesterday that a series of multimillion pound costs would follow any cancellation, meaning the NHS would "potentially be exposed to a higher cost than finishing the work".Firstly, she said, a direct penalty clause of "several hundred million pounds" - up to a cap depending on the number of years left - would be set to follow if CSC's work were terminated "at leisure".On top of the immediate penalty figure, CSC "could then seek damages", which would potentially take the figure much higher, she said. The termination of a separate £1 billion NHS deal with Fujitsu has reportedly led to a three year dispute over a sum of around £700 million."From that point on [if CSC's deal were to be cancelled], there would be the costs of the transition to another supplier," she said. In Fujitsu's case, the supplier had "almost doubled" the cost of support in this period.Connelly declined to list the exact costs of the immediate penalty clause, referring to the continued fraught negotiations between the Department of Health and CSC in an attempt to sign a renewed contract.Richard Bacon MP, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, told Computerworld UK after the hearing that he had "questions" around the cancellation comments."It's a lot of smoke and mirrors," he said. He added that he would demand more answers from the NHS, saying that in spite of the well-documented problems it was "suprising they could be in such a serious hole".Connelly and CSC UK healthcare director Sheri Thureen both insisted at the hearing that they wanted to establish a renewed contract. But Connelly also said "all options" were being considered, including termination.Following the repeated rollout delays, Connelly said the NHS considered CSC to have "clearly" breached its contract. The supplier disputes this assertion. Both parties said a new contract is on the table and is being considered.David Nicholson, NHS chief executive, promised during the hearing that a decision would be taken in taxpayer and patient interests, even if it is a tough call on the supplier. "Do not feel I am emotionally connected here," he said. "We can be hard-nosed."CSC was repeatedly asked during the hearing if it was confident it would deliver a patient records system in the North, East and Midlands where it has a contract, by the 2016 deadline. Thureen said only that the company believed it had the "foundation" for that.The Public Accounts Committee is expected to deliver a brutal report on the programme in the coming weeks. The Cabinet Office is also producing its own assessment.

So when some one tells me that documentation  or any other written kind of signoff are not required, then probably it shows as how incorrect their thoughts are.In IT Sourcing world, more the documentation you provide, better it is and it helps in case if events turns sour later on.

Fans crash "Dream Concert" ticket reservation website

 

Tickets for the Dream Concert next month opened on April 17th at 8 o'clock, and the massive traffic of fans who have rushed to reserve their tickets to the annual concert resulted in the website crashing.
The Dream Concert held its first concert in May 1995 to give a sense of hope and dreams to the youth. Since then, the concert has been held every year.
This year, popular Korean artists TVXQ, Girls' Generation, 2PM, 2AM, MBLAQ, 4minute, Davichi, KARA, K.Will, SISTAR, Secret, BEAST, IU, miss A, Infinite, Teen Top, T-ara, and ZE:A.
The "2012 Dream Concert" will be held on May 12th at 6PM KST at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.

Another reason as why Performance testing is challenging experiences and in real sense a hard Job.No matter how much you test, if there is sudden spike in users for whatever reasons,there exists a risk that your site may just silently fail.

Wipro Strengthens Partnership with the San Francisco Marathon

 

Feels good that Wipro is sponsoring the San Francisco Marathon and its good thing to do when the company operates in the global environment.It gives brand visibility.I think Wipro is second company next to TCS which is sponsoring the Marathon in US.

Bharti Airtel inks IT outsourcing deal with Avaya

 

Feels good that Bharti Airtel has signed the outsourcing deal to manage its IT Operation.I have been the one of the first customers of Bharti when they bought over the JTM mobile at Karnataka circle back in late 2000.

Surprising thing about this deal is that when most of the fortune 1000 are coming to India with regard to outsourcing of IT Services/Operations,Indian companies seems to be sending the work outside India.Whatever the reason, Avaya truly deserves it.They do maintain quality.

Tata Consultancy Services Named the Official Technology Partner of the 2012 Boston Marathon and the Boston Athletic Association

 

Here is an article which makes me feel good about TCS, TCS is sponsoring the Boston 2012 Marathon , Indian companies needs to take initiative and get themselves involved in the areas which generates maximum revenue’s for them.Lot many of delivery heads/senior managers most of the time never understand the importance of all these events and how it helps to built trust and cross cultural relationships.

Rush for rebates sees tax office website crash

 

Crisis lead many taxpayers owed money by the Treasury to apply as quickly as possible

Cristina Galindo / Ramón Muñoz Madrid11 ABR 2012 - 16:10 CET

The website of the Spanish Tax Office crashed on Tuesday after thousands of users rushed to be the first to apply for their 2011 tax forms.

The economic crisis has led many taxpayers owed money by the Treasury to make their applications as quickly as possible in the hope they will receive their money back immediately.

A few hours after the service was made available at midnight on Tuesday, a record 25,000 forms had been confirmed, said the organization.

But as users flooded the site, it found itself unable to cope with the 5,600 transactions a second it was receiving - the daily average is 500.

By the middle of the afternoon the site was working at 50 percent its usual capacity.

Fair enough crash and fair circumstances.Happens often.If you are responsible for some site which deals with public money and you are living  in country which is going through bad economic time, then please ensure that site remains up and running by doing whatever its possible by you.Lot of people will give you good wishes and prey for your well being. In bad time, its only prayers that helps most.

IRCTC website perennially down in the mornings

 

India’s IRCTC is one of the most heavily used websites in the world,in fact I would say it has traffic much more than what Amazon handles.It is also one of the busiest  sites which goes down frequently due to load causing inconveniences to thousands and thousands of people in India who rely on railways for transport.

Is their any quick fix for this ? Will adequate infrastructure reduce the burden of the site ? Do you believe Performance testing or Load Testing can resolve issues which IRCTC faces ? I think they cannot at for now or in my life time, some failures are just too chronic to be resolved by the testing in spite of testing often.Its just that business model of the IRCTC has lot many customers and it has total monopoly in the area where it operates.In addition to this , its bureaucratic organization.Customers just don’t any other choice other than going to IRCTC site.But again we should also need keep in mind that its only Indian Railways which can connect us to the most remote and hardest part of the India.Exactly the reasons why some sites in spite of having poor performance are stars in their line of business.Deep Expertise/Customer loyalty/Care/Empathy for customers are some of the key things which makes IRCTC website a star performer.

Recommendation engine drives 75% of Netflix traffic

 

Here is an interesting article about recommendation engine developed by Netflix to attract and suggest movies to its users based on their likes/dislikes and social habits.Its an interesting strategy and does make sense in business context.

The key thing to note here as a tester is that its data which Netflix collects that drives the functionality of the application based on user’s like/dislike.Most testers including myself at times have often ignored the importance of the right set of data that mimics the real user due to various reasons.I feel we need to make corrections to the way to we see and interpret data for our testing purpose.

Red Hat wins with investment banks

 

Red Hat the maker of Linux operating systems has won lot of big deals recently in Banking domain.To be honest, I had never seen Linux used extensively in any of my client’s platform and this news really excites me a lot and makes me  happy for Linux.I have been a fan of Linux for quite sometime now and was really disappointed to see Linux missing in most of the BFSI domain.So finally I must say that time has come to open up and brush myself with  some Linux performance tuning skills.

Chicago Park District website again plagued by woes on program sign-up day

 

Here is another same story where few months back I remember Chicago part website had crashed on the first day of registration causing lot of hardship to its interested members/users.At the first time,site simply crashed and this time its loading slow or intermittently crashing(slowness at front end also means some component has crashed at backend).

The main problem here was that authorities concerned failed to do proper load testing on the site for various reasons.Demand is often unpredictable and so at times it does make sense to know as how long and how much your site can withstand user load.

Hope next time,Chicago Park District website authorities hire some good performance engineers to fix their problem so as to enhance their badly damaged image in front of its users.

Technorati Tags: website crash,load,performance

TfL signs $33m outsourcing extension with CSC

 

CSC will run a number of Transport for London's IT services for another 27 months.

Transport for London (TfL) has extended its outsourcing agreement with CSC.

The extension, worth $33m, adds 27 months to the length of the original contract.

Under the agreement, CSC will continue to provide TfL with IT services such as service desk, desktop support and delivery of real-time customer information at a number of London underground stations.

CSC was first contracted by TfL in 2007 as an interim replacement for previous supplier Logica.

TfL is currently in the first phase of a three stage plan to overhaul its IT estate, which will see the organisation first focusing on areas, such as improving provision of commodity services.

1940 census data so popular its website crashes

 

Here is another example as how depending on the content of the site, curiosity among the users just might crash your site.1940 Census data was made publicly available and interest in this data caused the site to crash under load.

The fix for this crash was ‘The fix involved adding more servers and increasing their capacity’. It becomes sometimes really hard to understand people’s behavior and their interest. Did we ever think that 70 years old data might generate so much traffic ?

Hospital performance website crashes

 

Quite lot of business people think that if your business or product website crashes under load, it means that you are doing lot of business and lot of people are interested in your site and product, however I think I disagree with these thoughts.I feel these are more of people’s curiosity  and this at times might generate one time sale but more often they reflect poorly on the company brand and its ability to manage smooth sales process via online channels.So I suggest If you are in business and if you are selling product which is going to consumed by general mass consumers, then make sure that your online sales channels are strong enough to support your vision.

Here is case where solid idea to compare the performance of various hospitals across the country generated lot of traffic to the site and finally it crashed under load and disappointing many of the its users.

Below is extract pulled out from the link,

Unexpected high traffic crashed a new online hospitals rating tool.

The new website was launched Wednesday and the owners expected about 200 people to check it out.

But more than 300,000 people swamped the site a few hours after it went live and the server hosting it crashed.

The tool was developed by the Canadian Institute for Health Information and is found on the organization's website.

Agency official Jeremy Veillard says the site crash shows that people are interested.

The tool allows users to compare hospitals using 21 health-care quality measurements and nine financial ones.

CIHI expects the major benefit of the tool will be that it gives hospitals an incentive to improve their performances now that the public can see how they are doing.

Veillard also says studies around the world have shown these kinds of measurement tools don't change the decisions the public makes about health-care as most people just go to the closest hospital when they are sick.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

Technorati Tags: performance,website crash,load

Orange Business Services Signs Five-Year, over $100 Million Telecoms Outsourcing Contract Renewal with JTI

 

Here is another company which has defied the market trends and bagged the 5 year contract with JTI( Japanese Tobacco Inc).

“Our 17-year relationship with Orange Business Services is built on trust and mutual success” this quote from JTI CIO tells us a lot as why Orange has defied the market trend of outsourcing.17 years relationship  is too long period and  with time, relationship’s are built.

As per press release,three main points led to the renewal:

-- ability -- Orange is unique in its ability to deliver a wide scope of services across all geographies of JTI. Orange is not only managing and delivering services, but is also able to order and invoice locally.

-- agility -- Orange is able to answer JTI’s various business requirements and can adapt the services to meet the customer’s needs. This is the result of strong interaction between the JTI and Orange design & consulting teams and a deep understanding of the customer needs.

-- availability -- JTI recognizes the benefits of having a dedicated Orange team and the close relationship built by the Orange team over the past years, including permanent site presence, 24/7 service and access to teams and integration between dedicated support centers.

All the Best and Congrats to Orange Business Services.

Festival fans frustrated by BBC’s ticket website crash

 

Here is another case of site failing under load and thereby causing inconvenience to thousands of fans and huge loss of the business.

Below is content taken from the site,

26 March 2012

Fans trying to get free tickets for the BBC’s biggest outdoor festival were disappointed when the website crashed under huge demand.

Many were faced with error pages, “access denied” messages and long delays while trying to place their order for Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend, after it was announced that American chart stars Jay-Z and Rihanna will headline the event on June 23 and 24.

Fifty thousand free tickets are being made available for each day of the festival, part of the Cultural Olympiad, with priority given to people living near the venue at Hackney Marshes.

But as Radio 1 claimed its ticketing agency was “experiencing high volumes of traffic”, many would-be applicants vented their anger on the event’s unofficial Facebook page.

A second wave of tickets was being made available from 4pm today. A message on the Radio 1 Twitter account asked listeners to “bear with us”, and added: “We’re working hard to get this fixed as soon as possible.”

 

Technorati Tags: performance loss

Google Doodle presence causes Marimekko website to crash

 

Here is another case where unexpected change or good thing of your life or business can quickly change the way people look at your site.This is also one of the precise reasons as why I always say that requirements no matter who gives you are always uncertain.

Comark Extends IT Outsourcing Agreement With CGI for 6 Years

 

Here is another IT engagement which I believe defies the market trend of outsourcing of IT Services where contracts now range between 2 or 3 years maximum no matter what large is your size of IT engagement or no matter how big is your IT Transformation program.

The only way to beat the market trend is to become to good/honest and empathetic to the client needs.Its all about understanding and feeling clients needs and working together to achieve goals.

SHEARER SPEECH CRASHES ONLINE

 

SHEARER SPEECH CRASHES ONLINE

If you are national level politician or someone who is running for office at national level and your audience is entire population of the country, then probably you need to ensure that you get your online site load tested.It will not cost you much and probably you can have someone who works in government IT office do it for you.

Why it helps for you to have your site load tested as a national level politician , it’s because its only internet that gives you a platform to reach out to the maximum level of people at minimum amount of time and with minimum amount of investment.Your site helps people connect with you faster and thereby giving you a some edge.

Tata Steel, Wipro in most ethical firms list

 

Its good to know that there are some companies where we have some people who care for ethical standards and ask their employee’s to come out in open and share their concerns with regard to unethical issues that happens in workplaces.Being a employee of Wipro and at some part of life having some relation with Tata steel, I makes me feel good and proud.Having good ethics standard always helps,you know as how far management can go to do the right things even if time/circumstances are hard and using shortcuts seems to be tempting case. I know sometimes this happens and seen quite a lot of senior folks becomes victims of circumstances.