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