TCS latest company to embrace Blade technology

and we’re back..after one week or so… when you’re blogging on the side, life takes priority in general…anyway ton of updates coming your way this week..starting with this:

TCS has finally upgraded its backend systems in the Data center. You might remember i covered a story a few months back where TCS had selected symbol PDAs to give to their field staff (aka riders) to dynamically update their backend ERP Software, for package tracking,etc. Im assuming this is a continuation of that project. The DC is being setup in their new facility near the airport, and they have gone for the IBM Bladecenter. Good choice I would say, nowadays though, the only real choice if you are buying blades in Pakistan. Again, when it comes to blades, dont go for HP. Go for IBM. An IBM blade is like an IBM T series ThinkPad. Once you’ve used it you cant go back and you shouldnt.

Anyway, since TCS did buy an IBM blade center, the SAN comes by default which means they actually will now have centralized storage for their huge database. I wonder when they will start warehousing and analyzing all this data, Im sure NCR is waiting in line to pitch them a teradata solution

TCS though by and large is way ahead of its local competitors when it comes to technology. You need alot of bold management, like I always say, to implement such difficult projects, but then the reward is great. TCS now has an ability similar to Fedex, UPS,etc that neither OCS nor leopard can boast about, and that enables TCS to charge higher and give better service. The others may be cheaper but I’d rather know my package was delivered on time rather than save 10 rupees, if you get my drift.

Meftec Roundup Part 1

MEFTEC is a regional conference held in Bahrain which showcases technology solutions for the financial services industry, ie Banks, traders,etc. This year at MEFTEC the Pakistan pavillion, with PSEB’s help (thank you PSEB and PK government) was home to some locally well known IT companies, namely: TPS, Netsol, Alchemy, Apvision, Mixit, ZRG and Sidat Hyder. Each one exhibited their primary offerings, ie Netsol showcased its LeaseSoft software, Mixit its trading solution, Alchemy showcased the Alchemy Risk Manager product,etc. Pibas also showed up, but they had their own stall.

It was good to hang out among the Tatas and Misys’es of the world and learn about other regional players. The ME market is a different beast as compared to our local market… everytime I think about it, I think about the Techlogix strategy : grab your niche and be the best technically. No other way to make it really….

Overall, the event saw good ,focused foot traffic and I also spotted and met some CIOs from Paksitani Banks, such as MCB, Saudi Pak,etc. Will post pictures soon..stay tuned..

Out for Meftec

Alot happening this week and last, but I will cover it all when I am back from MEFTEC in Bahrain. Once I return i’ll also have a writeup on the Pakistani Companies that are going to this important conference, will return to blogging this wednesday.

Habib Banks finalizes million dollar IT project

In a million dollar IT deal (or rounds that), Habib Bank has gone for massive upgrading this year of several of its systems and has finalized the project that will be implemented by Inbox Technologies, an up and coming IBM partner.

Habib Bank selected IBM as its key hardware/solutions supplier for the project, which just goes to show that in the financial sector, IBM has been the most successful company. Recently IBM and KASB bank also closed a major deal to implement the Misys core banking system on its iSeries systems. Si3, another key IBM Business Partner will be implementing that project.

GBM comes to Pakistan

Gulf Business Machines, one of the largest IT companies, basically an IBM supported (and pretty much an IBM clone as far as operations go, just like SBM or KBM) company in the ME has taken over IOP, a very old and respected System integrations company and has reintroduced it as GBM Pakistan. What impact will this have on Infotech, Si3, and Inbox?  What impact would it have on IBM? This is good news for the industry but with growth and new players come new questions…. More on this later…i’ll have to write a detailed writeup on this major news item.. right now though if i dont pack i’ll miss my plane!!!

I wish this was around when I was in University…

For those of you who have studied in the US, we all know that semester textbooks were the most expensive things we had to buy. It wasnt uncommon to find a EE book for , say $100. Your bookstore would buy it back from you at $30 and sell it to some other bloke for $80 as a used copy. I was one of those blokes too… Except for begging,stealing or borrowing (ok. no I tried to borrow as much as I could!) I pretty much tried everything else to get my hands on cheap textbooks….and you did too, come on, admit it… you did try to just borrow the textbook from the library and just keep it didnt you..? hmmmmmm? and then there was the search for a good $30 counch and a cheap computer…remember the bulletin board at your student union that had all the ads posted on it? well I was directed to the online version recently..

Its called “Chegg.com” and its CEO is a a Pakistani too.  Osman Rashid runs the company that recently closed a $2.2 million funding round. Its essentially an online classifieds site where we, as students could trade/buy/sell our stuff at fair price value. I havent heard of them offshoring work but its great to see another innovative company run by a fellow Pakistani that is solving real world problems. I spent some time on the site, it doesnt have my alma matter (University of Texas at Austin) on there yet, but it does have a long list of colleges that have signed up. I wonder if this will get as popular as ebay!

For more on Chegg, go here:

http://www.chegg.com/Default.aspx

and

http://www.chegg.com/how-it-works.aspx

PS A big thanks to Haseeb for introducing me to the company and what it does!

This is an ERP??

I need to ask IT departments to get one thing straight. Hiring 4 developers and then building 3 applications and calling them an “ERP” is not cool. I mean, please. The application(s) you have built that caters to a department and automates them is NOT an ERP application. At best, it is a business process application. I am tired of people introducing me to their applications by calling them “our internally developed ERP”. It might be a cool application, I have seen some VERY good work done on internal apps by IT deparments. But please, they are not ERPs. They are disparate applications working on singular business processes, they do not give you a one page view into your company (unless they are tightly integrated). You want an ERP? go for SAP, Oracle, and the like. You want an application that ones just one thing well and specializes in it, go build your own.

“ERP” has become quite the buzzword in out market. Simply because we are waking up to the concept of an automated company about 8 years after most of the world, but oh well, better late than never and atleast its before WTO kicks our collective a** .

And for the software companies who are still thinking of developing and ERP system today. Its done, the boat has sailed. Please do something else. If you want to give ERP services, learn how to deploy Oracle, SAP, SAP Business One, GP, OhioEdge, netsuite, whatever. Learn Business Intelligence, supply chain, Biztalk integration, SOA, mobile applications development instead. Build into a niche that hasnt yet been fully explored.

Please please dont make your own ERP in this world, we have enough re-invented wheels already and whatever you make will not compare to the Oracles and SAPs of the world.

Maxcom still going strong…

Just an update. Ive had Maxcom DSL now for I think 6 months or so. Its gone down, maybe once, for a few minutes. Kudos to them for good service and giving proper advertised bandwidth (well they are more honest than most, them and cybernet.)

Since ive switched from crummy loser Worldcall cable i havent looked back. If you are a worldcall cable customer in pain and paying too much for crappy service, dump them and switch. I’d suggest Maxcom or Cybernet DSL. You may pay a bit more, worldcall has also become cheaper recently (because their sales are down, duh) but I think its better to pay a bit more and get decent internet service which in itself is a valuable commodity in Pakistan.

Microsoft Launching Vista in Pakistan

On Monday Feb 12th Microsoft will be launching the much awaited Windows Vista in Pakistan. Enterprise customers have had access to vista for a few months now, but now it will be available to the (paying and legal) public of Pakistan. Im quite sure its already hit the pirated market. Its also amazing that this year alot fewer people I know have looked to pirated CDs. Things are getting better on that front and companies are paying their licensing dues. Kudos to them. Windows vista will be ALOT more difficult to use if you have used a pirated CD, so put in the cash and get the proper version, save yourself some pain. If you’re a student, go and try to get the academic versions of software, they are heavily discounted. Or tell Microsoft you’re switching to linux that might do the trick and you might get a free windows cd

to register for the event, go here:

http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/bvlaunchpak/default.aspx

On its coat tails MS Office and MS Exchange 2007 are launching as well. This willobviously a product launch so expect alot of marketing shpeel…Vista has stirred the IT world all over the globe and if you google “windows vista” you will find more than enough material on whats going on with it, all the hype and technical babel included.

I go the RC2 version of Vista from Microsoft awhile back (Thank you Zafar!) and ive been running it every since on my test PC at work. Its great, and its got some very cool features, and the search is actually very good. It reminds of what MS did with netscape came out (it embedded IE into its OS). But i wouldnt switch personally. not just yet. give it 6 months. I like the gloss of the new UI but i need a functional running hassle free pc to do my daily work. I get that with XP. Will i get that with vista? I’ll let my friends find out and tell me