7 Indian States Found To Have The Most Cybercrime

 According to the data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), cyber crime in the country has increased by almost 50 percent. Persons between the ages of 18 and 30 do the maximum crime. In the year 2012, 2876 cases of cyber crime were filed under IT Act and 601 were filed under IPC Section in India. By 2013, the number increased to 4356 undre IT Act and 1337 under IPC Section. The total cases registered in Delhi in 2013 are 191. Maharashtra is the top most state in the list of cyber crime, followed by Andra Pradesh and Karnataka.     

Maharashtra: The total number of cyber crimes registered in Maharashtra under IT Acts has risen from 471 registered cases to 681 registered cases when compared 2013 and 2012. The number of cases registered under IPC Section is 226 when compared to the previous year when the number was only 90. In Maharashtra 11 cases were filed against tampering computer sources documents, 275 for hacking while 6 were registered against failure of certification under the IT Act.

The total number of persons arrested is 426, out of which 17 were below the age of 18 years, 214 were between the ages of 18 and 30 years, 161 were between 30 and 45 years, 35 were between 45 and 60 and 3 were above 60. Cyber police had registered 33 cases 2012 under IT Act and 72 under IPC Section in Mumbai but now the statistics has raised to 40 and 92 in 2013. In Pune, it was 76 in 2012 and 97 in 2013.

Andra Pradesh: With total number of 635 cases under IT Act and 16 IPC Section registered cases in 2013, Andra Pradesh is second in the list. This number was 429 under IT Act and 25 under IPC Section in 2012. Total number of cases constitutes 30 cases for tampering computer sources documents, 346 for hacking and 234 for obscene publication.  

Persons arrested in AP below 18 are 9, 180 were between 18 and 30, between 30 and 45 are 94 and between 45 and 60 are 13. The total persons arrested were 296 in the state, out of which 83 were from Hyderabad and 1 from Vijayawada.

Karnataka: With the statistical number of 412 cases in 2012 and 531 in 2013, Karnataka is the third state in India with the highest number of cases registered under IT Act. It has recorded 25 cases in 2012 and 20 in 2013 cases filed under IPC Section. The total filed cases under IT Act include 8 cases of tampering computer source documents, 429 for hacking and 48 for obscene publication. 

In Karnataka total persons arrested under IT Act were 94 where as under IPC Section are 10. Highest of 49 were arrested between the age of 18 and 30, 49 between the age of 30 and 45 and 3 between the age of 45 and 60. Total of 47 were arrested in Bangalore.

Uttar Pradesh: In 2012, 205 cyber crime cases were filed under IT Act and 44 under IPC Section that reached 513 under IT Act and 301 under IPC Section in 2013. Under IT Act 3 cases are filed for tampering computer source document, 146 for hacking, 159 for obscene publication and 4 for failure in certificate authentication.

In UP, 213 persons were arrested between the age of 18 and 30 and 65 were arrested between the ages of 45 and 60. Cities like Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur and Lucknow constitute 40 persons arrested. Highest number of cases 159 is filed against obscene publication followed by 141 cases for hacking.

Kerala: With lowest number in the list of top five highest cyber crime states, Kerala police filed 349 cases under IT Act and 34 cases under IPC Section in 2013. Total number of cases filed in 2012 was 312. The statistics of year 2013 say, the persons arrested under IT Act includes 9 persons below the age of 18, 73 between 18 and 30, 52 between the age of 30 and 45 and 17 between the ages of 45 and 60. The total persons arrested were 169.

In Kerala maximum of 177 cases were registered against obscene publication followed by 129 cases against hacking. In cities like Kollam and Kochi the number of persons arrested is 11 and 9 respectively.

Madhya Pradesh: The total number of cyber crimes cases registered in Madhya Pradesh under IT Acts was 142 and 282 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Whereas the number of cases registered under IPC Section was 226 when compared to the previous year when the number was only 90.

In Madhya Pradesh, 1 case was filed against tampering computer sources documents, 240 for hacking while 41 were registered against failure of certification under the IT Act. The total number of persons arrested is 165, out of which 2 are below the age of 18 years, 104 are between the ages of 18 and 30 years, 44 are between 30 and 45 years, 13 are between  45 and 60 and 2 are above 60. In cases of cyber crime, 17 got arrested form Bhopal, 10 from Gwalior and 59 from Indore.

Rajasthan: The number of cases registered in Rajasthan under IT Act in 2012 was 142 that increased in 2013 to 239 and under IPC Section it was 7 which increased drastically to 58. In Rajasthan, 2 people who were arrested are below the age of 18, 104 are between 18 and 30, 46 are between 30 and 45 and 11 are between 45 and 60. Cyber police arrested 41 persons only form the capital, Jaipur. Maximum of 147 cases were filed for hacking followed by 81 cases of obscene publication.

World's 10 Most Social Media Savvy CEOs

 Social media is a growing platform for businesses to thrive, grow, popularize, increase customer awareness, and is also a way to connect and build business contacts. This is social media on the business front. No matter what kind of business owned or how big it is, CEOs across all forms of businesses have started using social media to popularize and interact with their customers. And these CEOs have made the best use of it.

Richard Branson: The CEO of virgin group is the biggest user of social media, having the highest number i.e. 4.5 million followers on twitter. He has over 2 million followers on LinkedIn. The consummate social CEO is followed for his inspiring leadership and posts on latest business developments, charity initiatives and also simple light jokes and fun. When he was asked how he has the time to tweet, his reply was “How do they not find the time, I wonder? Social media is a terrific way to connect with our customers.”

Anand Mahindra: The only Indian CEO on the top ten lists of CEOs on social media has 1.26 million followers on twitter. He is yet to join the LinkedIn social group. His account is one of the liveliest ones with posts of emerging businesses and ventures. He is the one the richest Indian business men, yet makes time and takes the opportunity to connect with his customers. He is known to have thrown open for public use, a Smartphone application for emergency help, post the Delhi rape case. 

Marissa Mayer: The CEO of Yahoo is the only lady to feature in the top ten lists. She is deemed as a very unpopular CEO. Hasn’t made much of a headline for any reason but is known to be very good with visual, multimedia and videos. She has over 612000 followers on twitter and runs a blog that is so captivating that people are advised to not read it while at work. 

Jeff Weiner: The proud CEO and owner of one of the largest and fastest growing social media house, LinkedIn has been an example with his activeness on the social site. He is an ex- yahoo executive, who won the 2012’s executive of the year award. He has more followers on LinkedIn with over 1.4 million people as to the number of followers on twitter. He is considered as one of the most thoughtful leaders of this generation and is focused on tech recruitment and social media relationship.

Eric Schmidt: The CEO of Google is also seen to have made good use of the social media, which comes to no surprise as Google is one of the leading giants of social media. He once famously tweeted “we know where you are, we know where you’ve been, we can more or less know what you are thinking.” He has over 832000 followers on twitter, but is yet to use LinkedIn. He is followed for his posts on innovating future technologies and digital gadgets, which is not a surprise at all from the manager of one the leading innovating company in the world. 
Marc Benioff: He is the founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com who is known for his posts not on business and technology but a more humorous, fun and interesting anecdotes. He has 108,683 followers on twitter. His posts sets him apart from the rest of the CEOs on the list who are more inclined to post business related updates. He is yet to connect to people n LinkedIn.

Rupert Murdoch: The Media Baron and the king of traditional media has adapted very well to modern social media with the same finesse. His is one man who has been on the receiving end of media wrath but no less has he unleashed enough wraths himself. He has 509,349 followers on twitter for his tweets on politics and media. He revolutionized media so much so that media has become a tool to tear down or build governments, in the past and in the present as well.

Elon Musk: He is the chairman/CEO of Tesla Motors. He is a man who has voiced support for green technologies in the world and is making it happen at Tesla. He tweets a lot on future motoring, space travels and bringing to light high science that can be commercialized. He has 755,904 followers on twitter. He, along with his company is making green technologies possible in the motoring world. 
eff Immelt: The CEO of GE company is the tenth most popular social media user when it comes to CEOs on social media. He uses this medium entirely to connect with his customers which according to him is the holy grail of business when man and machine can come together as one to marry real time customer and performance data. He has 22,229 followers on twitter but has higher number of followers on LinkedIn with 120,486 followers.

Kaifu Lee: Lee is a computer scientist and an IT venture capitalist, who was apparently banned from his social sites in China by his government for writing against them. This didn’t stop him as he invited his 1.1 million followers to follow him on Twitter. The only problem with his tweets is that they are always in Chinese that followers from outside China have a difficulty understanding his posts. 

The reasons for the use of social media expands everyday where some of them being good and other reason for destructive purposes. The whole idea of social media being for the common man is no longer the mantra as business power houses and their drivers are realizing that to get to the common man, who is responsible for their growth and develop a closer knit relationship is what will keep businesses running. This adaptation is for so many reasons, from understanding their customer’s needs, behavior, business plan modules and audience target, just to name a few. This is why more CEOs are adopting to use social media.

The Ten Life Lessons From Steve Jobs We Should Never Forget

1. He loved what he did – his company, the people who worked there, their products – and couldn’t have done anything else.

Sure he became a billionaire over time when he brought Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy, but I don’t think Steve could have done anything else. He wouldn’t have done anything else. Apple was his calling — even after he got fired from the company.  We all have bad jobs at one point or another in our lives. But the big question you have to ask yourself is: am I in the right job for me? Have I found the right company? Is this the right set of people I want to be with? Will this lead to fulfilling work and thus a fulfilling career? If yes, great. If no, change things quick. Life doesn’t go on forever (as we also saw from Steve). Get on your right path now.

2. Don’t tolerate bozos around you.

Throughout his life, Steve had a great “bozo” detector. He did a super job of not letting bozos proliferate at his companies. He weeded them out if they were there – until they weren’t.  You’ll never be perfect at it and neither was Steve but the key thing is that bozos sap energy from you and the best people in the company working with you. Bozos make bozo decisions. Bozos hire worse bozos beneath them. Stamp them out.  Don’t let them take root around you.

3. You can’t do it all yourself.

Between Steve Jobs’ first stint at Apple and his last, he became a much better manager of people.  He still could tear the hide off someone if he didn’t think they did their job, but his outbursts were far fewer and far less hostile later in life than before. He learned you can’t do it all yourself in your career — at least not if you want to see your work succeed on a massive scale.  You need people.  They must be talented. They must be inspired. They must be held accountable. They must be given the opportunity to succeed and fail on their own and not just be a puppet for your will.  In short, you have to learn to be a great leader and manager of people if you want to see your great ideas and hard work truly have a huge impact on the world.

4. If you want to sell an idea, product or service, put yourself in the other person’s shoes.

If you had to pick one thing that was special about Steve and Apple compared to all the companies that came before it, you’d have to say it was that Apple – more than any other company of our time – was always the best at dreaming up a new product that we never could have imagined beforehand but seemed so natural to us the first time we held it.  That’s empathy. That’s seeing the world not as it is but as it should be.  It’s started from that first touch the user has with a product and says “ahh” to the beginning and building what is needed which may look nothing like what exists today.

5. Be the best at your niche in the world but don’t be so exclusive that a majority of the world can’t experience it.

One of the things Steve learned with his first stint at Apple and then at NeXT was that he produced some amazing technology – that cost way too much money for most people to buy.  The technology was beautiful. The Mac faithful loved it. And yet Microsoft (MSFT) continued to dominate the bulk of the market because it cost less and was good enough.  Jobs really took that to heart when he came back to Apple.  Not only were the iPod, iPhone, and iPad completely new and exciting — they were aggressively priced.  People expected the new iPad to cost over $1,000. When it was close to half of that, people were shocked.  Competitors could only win share back by making no profit on their tablets in response.  Apple still found a way to make money at their lower price.  You can have the best ideas in the world for whatever your niche is but it won’t make a think unless you find a way to get it in front of people.  With the Internet today, you can be a hat maker in Timbuktu but – if you’ve got something good – people will be able to find you. Just make sure your stuff isn’t wildly over-priced when they do find you.

6. You don’t beat the competition at their game. You redefine the game.

How did Apple go from being 3 months away from being shut down to introducing the iPhone 10 years later?  They didn’t play the computer game the way everyone said they needed to play it.  Napster was created and made music essentially free. Apple created the next “Walkman” in the iPod which forced users to pay for music.  Dell was the dominant PC player during much of that time, selling bland looking computers with no middle man to keep costs down.  Apple created a bunch of Apple stores.  This was as radical as if Google decided today that they were going to build a bunch of Google stores.  The leading smart phones before the iPhone all had physical keyboards like the BlackBerry, Palm Treo, Good technology, and the first versions of Google’s Android.  Apple came up with something utterly different.  So much so that most people referred to it in the first couple of years as the “Jesus Phone.”  Don’t just beat the competition. Think different to create a new game.

7. Don’t mess around with your health.

I once was chatting with someone about the lessons Steve Jobs’ life could teach us. I ran through a list of business ideas. He stopped me in said: “you’re forgetting the most important lesson from his life: don’t mess around with your health, especially when doctors give you serious advice.”  And he was right. It’s great to celebrate Steve’s life and learn from it now but, the fact is, he should still be here.  And he probably would still be here if he had aggressively treated his cancer, like his doctors wanted, when they first found it. Instead, Steve messed around with a bunch of naturopathic solutions that weren’t effective.  When he finally decided to take his doctors’ original advice, too much time had past to save him.

8. Never rest on your laurels.

Apple went from death’s door to the dominant player in mobile in about 10 years.  And, once they reached the top, their competitors seemed to implode including Research In Motion (RIMM), Motorola, Sony and HTC.  Most companies in that situation would have eased up. The CEOs and senior managers would have taken time out to pose for Fortune magazine covers and gone on about 8 different corporate boards each to further raise their profile and cash in on their success.  When the world is worshipping you, you take your foot off the gas. You figure that you can coast for a little bit — especially after 10 tough years of rebuilding the company. Apple did none of that. And even though they didn’t, they’re still in a hug dog fight right now against Samsung and Google (GOOG).  Just imagine if they had decided to mail it in for a few years after shipping the iPhone.

9. It’s not just the package but also the presentation.

Steve Jobs was almost mythical the way could do a presentation. There really wasn’t any equal of his in the last 50 years I can think of.  Apple critics didn’t like the way this aspect of Apple and Jobs got so much attention. They would constantly refer to their products they liked instead (Microsoft or Google) and list off all the product or performance features which were better in their views to Apple’s. They claimed that Jobs had cast some kind of shaman-like spell over others and if you peeled that away, you’d see that their product was better. Rather than hate the showman-like aspect of Jobs though, better to appreciate it.  It’s about the steak and the sizzle.  You’ve got to have a good steak – no matter what business you’re in. However, it’s only human nature to be attracted by the sizzle as well.  Jobs wasn’t the first business person to figure this out. A guy named P.T. Barnum was pretty good at it too. Instead of complaining that it’s not fair others don’t give you as much respect because your company has no sizzle, why not try to create some yourself in addition to your solid products?

10. Are you doing work you’d be proud to show your friends and family?

At the end of the day, all big companies allow their employees to hide from responsibility and accountability.  That’s why so many big companies fail — their leaders get disconnected from what’s happening on the ground in their businesses and no one is course-correcting where the problems are.  Apple has a great way of pushing down responsibility to a few people in each area and then holding them responsible for those areas.  That doesn’t mean it always go perfectly as the Maps episode last year shows. However, notice that there was a consequence for that failure with the departure of certain people.  The bottom line rule of thumb here is: are you doing work on something you’d be proud to show your most discerning friends and family?  Across product groups and job functions, the great thing about Apple is that they were able to achieve that high bar across so many people in their large company.

How to keep your PC secure when Microsoft ends Windows XP support

 After a legendary dozen year run, Microsoft will stop providing security patches for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Without Microsoft’s protection, all those WinXP PCs will have targets painted on their hard drives.
Nearly 30 percent of Internet-connected PCs still run Windows XP, and no, they won’t die that day. They’ll continue running like normal, but they’ll be rotting inside, becoming increasingly full of security holes. Microsoft itself has dubbed the condition “Zero day forever.”
Look, let’s be honest. You should upgrade from Windows XP right now if at all possible—but not everyone can cut the XP cord so completely. If you can’t upgrade, there are some things you can do to protect yourself. Make no mistake: These tricks are like sticking your finger in a leaking dam. They’ll help a bit, but the dam is crumbling and it’s time to get out of the way.

Understand the risks

When Microsoft says it’s ending support for Windows XP, that means it will no longer produce security patches for critical vulnerabilities in the operating system. As time goes on, more and more critical security holes will be found, and attackers will have free reign to exploit them. Large organizations can pay exorbitant fees for continued custom Windows XP support, but those updates will never trickle out to everyday users or small businesses.

Smart attackers are likely waiting to exploit holes they already know about. They’ll unleash their attacks when Microsoft has moved on. The problems will never be fixed, so they can continue to attack them until the last Windows XP system vanishes from the Internet.
Other software developers will eventually stop supporting Windows XP, just as they no longer support Windows 98, creating even more attack vectors. This won’t happen overnight, but Windows XP will gradually be abandoned by everyone.

Choose your software wisely

If you use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, it’s time to let go. Internet Explorer 8, the most recent version available for Windows XP, is already several generations old and will no longer receive security patches. Google Chrome will continue supporting Windows XP until at least April 2015, while Mozilla Firefox has no announced plans to stop supporting Windows XP. So switch to Chrome or Firefox and you’ll have a secure, modern browser.

Most antivirus solutions will still continue supporting Windows XP. Even Microsoft’s own Microsoft Security Essentials will support Windows XP until July 14, 2015. Antivirus-testing company AV-TEST asked 30 different antivirus companies about their plans for Windows XP support and all of them committed to support Windows XP until at least April 8, 2015. Most committed to supporting it for even longer, into at least 2016.
Be sure you’re using an antivirus program that’s actually receiving updates, though, because that expired copy of Norton isn’t going to help you. An antivirus app isn’t a foolproof solution, and Microsoft warns, “Our research shows that the effectiveness of anti-malware solutions on out-of-support operating systems is limited.” Still, having some type of third-party protection certainly won’t hurt.
If you’re still using the now-defunct Outlook Express, you should stop using it right now. If you really love the Outlook experience, switch to the full version of Outlook included in Microsoft Office. Mozilla is still supporting Mozilla Thunderbird with security patches, though it’s unclear how long they’ll support Thunderbird on older operating system. Of course, you can always just use a web-based email service in Chrome or Firefox.

Microsoft will also stop supporting Office 2003 on April 8, 2014. If you’re still using Office 2003—or, even worse, Office XP— you should update to a newer, supported version of Office for improved security. Yes, this means only ribbon-ified versions of Office will be supported. Sorry.

Remove insecure software

The Java browser plug-in is extremely exploit-prone on any operating system. Unless you really need Java for a specific purpose, you should uninstall it. If you do need it, be sure to disable the browser plug-in and keep it up-to-date.
Other browser plug-ins are also frequently targeted by attackers. Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader are particularly crucial, so keep them up-to-date. Modern versions update themselves automatically, but older versions didn’t even check for updates. If you don’t need these applications, you should probably uninstall them to lock down your XP system as much as possible.
PCWorld senior writer Brad Chacos got sick of the constant security klaxons and tried living without Java, Reader, and Flash, discovering that it should be surprisingly easy for many people.

To scan for unpatched software on your computer, you can perform a scan with Secunia PSI, a tool that will scan your system for security problems. You can also visit Mozilla’s Plugin Check page to see if you have outdated browser plugins installed. Don’t let the name fool you—it works in other browsers, too, not just Firefox.
Insecure behavior will be magnified in a post-patch world, too, so be sure to check out PCWorld’s guides to keeping your PC safe in the web’s worst neighborhoods and protecting yourself against devious security traps.
Now let’s roll up our sleeves and dig into the more drastic, but totally appropriate measures.

Go offline

Let’s say you still need Windows XP to run some crucial business application, or to interface with a piece of hardware that doesn’t work with newer versions of Windows. If possible, you should disconnect that Windows XP machine from the network.
Sure, you won’t be able to do this if you need Internet or even local network access on your XP system. But, if you can, this is the easiest, most fool-proof way to keep an important Windows XP computer secure.

Use a limited account day-to-day

Barring being purely disconnected, if there’s a single tip that could make any Windows PC more secure, it’s this: Stay away from administrator accounts. If you’re blasted by malware, it can only do as much damage as the account it infects. Admin accounts give baddies the keys to your computing kingdom.
Once Windows XP stops being patched, stick to using a Limited account for your day-to-day activities if at all possible. Use an admin account to create the locked-down login and stock it with the software you need—keeping our previous program advice in mind—and then don’t stray from Limited land unless you need to install or update software. (And even then, only stick in the admin account for as long as is absolutely necessary to get the installation done.)

Confine Windows XP to a virtual machine

Virtual machines are an excellent way to continue using software that requires Windows XP while also upgrading to a newer version of Windows. They allow you to run Windows XP in an isolated container, placing an entire Windows XP system into a window on your desktop. Windows 7 Professional includes Windows XP Mode for just this reason, offering businesses and other professional users the ability to easily set up a Windows XP virtual machine without buying an additional Windows XP license.
If you’re upgrading to Windows 8 or even Windows 7 Home, Windows XP Mode is not included. If you really want to use Windows XP in a virtual machine, you’ll have to get a boxed copy of Windows XP—if you have an old one, that will work—and install it inside a virtual machine. You don’t have to buy virtual machine software—the free VirtualBox and VMware Player will both work fine.

Virtual machines will allow you to run most types of Windows XP applications, but not all of them. If an application needs direct access to a piece of hardware, it may not work.
Note that Microsoft is also ending support for Windows XP Mode and Windows XP in virtual machines on April 8, 2014. However, if you have to run Windows XP, running it in a virtual machine on a modern version of Windows is much more secure than running Windows XP as your primary operating system.

Move on

Let’s say you have a trusty old Windows XP PC that works okay for browsing the web and you just don’t want to buy a new PC or a new version of Windows. To stay secure, you can try installing Ubuntu Linux—we have guides to ease the transition and make Ubuntu look like Windows 7—or even Lubuntu, a more lightweight version of Ubuntu. These completely free operating systems are designed to work well on older hardware, and will be supported with security patches for years to come. In fact, the city of Munich recently handed out Ubuntu discs to their citizens to help them sidestep the Windows XPocalypse threat.

If you’re ready to upgrade to a new version of Windows but Windows 8 puts you off, you can still upgrade to Windows 7. It’ll be supported until 2020. New copies of Windows 7 or 8 cost nearly $100, however, and they might not run on hardware from the XP era, so you could be better off just buying a new computer and getting a modern version of Windows included.
Sure, Microsoft just wants to sell you a new Windows license, but it has been 12 years. Even if you have to use Windows XP for a bit longer, you should really be making plans to move on. You don’t have to go to Windows 8, but you can’t stay here—not for long, at least.

IT & ITeS Industry in India

Introduction

 

The Indian Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) sectors go hand-in-hand in every aspect. The industry has not only transformed India’s image on the global platform, but also fuelled economic growth by energising higher education sector (especially in engineering and computer science). The industry has employed almost 10 million Indians and hence, has contributed a lot to social transformation in the country.
Furthermore, Indian firms, across all other sectors, largely depend on the IT & ITeS service providers to make their business processes efficient and streamlined. Indian manufacturing sector has the highest IT spending followed by automotive, chemicals and consumer products industries.
Indian organisations are turning to IT to help them grow business in the current economic environment. IT is seen as a change enabler and a source of business value for organisations by 85 per cent of the respondents, according to a study by VMware.

Market Size

 

India's IT-business process outsourcing (BPO) industry revenue is expected to cross US$ 225 billion mark by 2020, according to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report, titled 'The SMAC Code-Embracing New Technologies for Future Business'.
India is expected to become world's second-largest online community after China with 213 million internet users by December 2013 and 243 million by June 2014, according to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.
Technology firms in India are expected to reap the benefits of Internet of Things (IoT) data, considered to be a US$ 18 billion opportunity, to help clients improve productivity and asset utilisation as well as to enhance end-customer experience, as per networking firm Cisco.
India’s total IT industry’s (including hardware) share in the global market stands at 7 per cent; in the IT segment the share is 4 per cent while in the ITeS space the share is 2 per cent. India's IT and BPO sector exports are expected to grow by 12-14 per cent in FY14 to touch US$ 84 billion - US$ 87 billion, according to Nasscom.
Moreover, India plans to spend around US$ 3.9 billion on cloud services during 2013-2017, of which US$ 1.7 billion will be spent on software-as-a-service (SaaS), according the latest outlook of IT research and advisory company, Gartner Inc.
The enterprise software market in India is expected to reach US$ 3.92 billion in 2013, registering a growth of 13.9 per cent over 2012 revenue of US$ 3.45 billion, according to Gartner.
Mumbai with 12 million internet users has emerged as the top most city in the country with highest penetration of internet users, followed by Delhi (8.1 million) and Hyderabad (4.7 million), according to the data released by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Investments

Indian IT's core competencies and strengths have placed it on the international canvas, attracting investments from major countries.
According to data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the computer software and hardware sector has attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs 54,347.88 crore (US$ 8.77 billion) between April 2000 and September 2013.
Some of the major investments in Indian IT and ITeS sector:

• Wipro plans to acquire US-based mortgage due diligence and risk management service provider Opus Capital Markets Consultants (Opus CMC) for Rs 465 crore (US$ 75.07 million). Opus CMC provides comprehensive risk management solutions to the mortgage industry in the US.
• Infosys has opened a new centre in Sydney, Australia. This is its fourth development centre in Australia and has a capacity to seat 140 employees. Further, the company plans to hire 85 people in the region.
• Hitachi has acquired a foothold in India's payment space with the acquisition of Prizm Payment Services. The firm has entered into share transfer agreements with Prizm shareholders, including Winvest Holdings (India), Sequoia Capital and Axis Bank.
• Dell has opened its India design centre for its storage technologies and has realigned its domestic research and development (R&D) unit. The facility will focus on developing software, integrating aspects involving back-up of emails and related storage.
• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched a software development facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The facility will serve global customers across industry segments.
• Cognizant Technology Solutions has acquired ValueSource, a subsidiary of KBC Group, a Belgium-based multi-channel bank insurance group.
• Schneider Electric has commissioned a services bureau in Bengaluru as a nerve centre and a support facility for data centres in India and the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Government Initiatives

IT spending by the Government of India is projected to reach US$ 6.4 billion in 2013, a growth of 7 per cent year-on-year, according to a report by Gartner.
Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government to promote IT and ITeS sector in India are:

• After a successful first-ever international delegation to Dubai, Gujarat-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the IT sector plan to send similar business delegations to European and South East Asian countries.
• The Government of Karnataka plans to announce a new information technology (IT) policy to boost investments in state’s tier-II and tier-III cities. The policy would enable the sector to employ about two million people in the state directly by 2020.
• The Government of India has fast tracked the process of setting up of centres of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) in Northeast India.
• The Government of Brazil has liberalised the issue of short term work visas, a move which will make it easier for Indian IT professionals to take up assignments in Brazil.
• India and Vietnam have signed two memorandums of understanding (MoU) for partnership in the field of information, communications and technology (ICT).

Road Ahead

Globalisation has a profound impact in shaping the Indian IT industry over the years with India capturing a sizeable chunk of the global market for technology sourcing and business services. Over the years the growth drivers for this sector have been the verticals of manufacturing, telecommunication, insurance, banking, finance and of late the fledgling retail revolution. As the new scenario unfolds it is getting clear that the future growth of IT and ITeS will be fuelled by the verticals of climate change, mobile applications, healthcare, energy efficiency and sustainable energy. Traditional business strongholds would make way for new geographies, there would be new customers and more and more of SMEs will go for IT application and services.
Demand from emerging countries is expected to show strong growth going forward. Tax holidays are also extended to IT sector for software technology parks of India (STPI) and special economic zones (SEZs). Further, the country is providing procedural ease and single window clearance for setting up facilities. The country’s cost competitiveness in providing IT services, which is approximately 3-4 times cheaper than the US continues to be its USP in the global sourcing market.

References: Media Reports, Press Releases, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) statistics, Department of Information and Technology.

Information Systems vs Information Technology

Introduction

It is often observed that term information system and information technology are used interchangeably. In a literal sense, information technology is a subset of information systems. Information systems consist of people, processes, machines and information technology. The great advancement in information systems is due to development in information technology and introduction of computers.

Information System

 

An information system can be defined as set of coordinated network of components, which act together towards producing, distributing and or processing information. An important characteristic of computer-based information systems information is precision, which may not apply to other types.
In any given organization information system can be classified based on the usage of the information. Therefore, information systems in business can be divided into operations support system and management support system.

Information Technology

Everyday knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is utilizing information technology. It has grown rapidly and covers many areas of our day to day life like movies, mobile phones, the internet, etc.
Information technology can be broadly defined as integration of computer with telecommunication equipment for storing, retrieving, manipulating and storage of data. According to Information Technology Association of America, information technology is defined as “the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems.”
Information technology greatly enhances the performance of economy; it provides edge in solving social issues as well as making information system affordable and user friendly.
Information technology has brought big change in our daily life be it education, life at home, work place, communication and even in function of government.

Comparison of Information System and Information Technology

 

Information system and information technology are similar in many ways but at the same time they are different. Following are some aspects about information system as well as information technology.

• Origin: Information systems have been in existence since pre-mechanical era in form of books, drawings, etc. However, the origin of information technology is mostly associated with invention of computers.
• Development: Information systems have undergone great deal of evolution, i.e. from manual record keeping to the current cloud storage system. Similarly, information technology is seeing constant changes with evermore faster processor and constantly shrinking size of storage devices.
• Business Application: Businesses have been using information systems for example in form of manual books of accounts to modern TALLY. The mode of communication has also gone under big change, for example, from a letter to email. Information technology has helped drive efficiency across organization with improved productivity and precision manufacturing.

Future of Information System and Information Technology

Information technology has shown exponential growth in the last decade, leading to more sophisticated information systems. Today’s information technology has tremendously improved quality of life. Modern medicine has benefited the most with better information system using the latest information technology.
Information systems have been known to mankind in one form or the other as a resource for decision making. However, with the advent of information technology information systems have become sophisticated, and their usage proliferated across all walks of life. Information technology has helped managed large amount of data into useful and valuable information.

Why open source will rule the data center

Open source as the future of IT
Open is playing an increasingly vital role in IT infrastructure. The current, dominant position of open source in server-side computing is well understood, and networking is now edging its way toward open source with the OpenDaylight movement. But is open source a natural evolutionary path for all IT disciplines, or do certain characteristics make some areas more attractive for open source than others?
When we think about networking as an industry, for example, we tend to compare its progress to the evolutionary track taken by the compute world. The assumption is that the networking industry will unfold in much the same way that the server industry did, marching past similar milestones. But this view of the world assumes that evolution follows a two-dimensional track, and industries are either parked somewhere along the continuum or they're moving toward a predetermined end.
But what if evolution doesn't follow some set schedule or even a singular path? If we assume that technological evolution is not predetermined, then what conditions drive an industry toward open source?
To address these questions, let's start by examining the three major drivers for broad open source adoption:
Single platform
When lots of applications run on a single platform, that platform is primed for open source. For most platform plays, value and differentiation are not in the platform, but rather reside in what runs on top of the platform. It makes sense that, to the extent possible, vendors developing on a platform should leverage a common body of work. Re-creating foundational elements not unique is duplicative work that ultimately costs the end-user. Additionally, a common platform helps ensure that all applications on top of the platform can run in what ends up looking like a fairly ubiquitous execution environment. This is largely what drove the migration of compute toward Linux.
Contrary to popular belief, a platform that's open source and ubiquitous can also be lucrative. Companies like Red Hat have been successful at leveraging a broad installed base to generate solid revenue streams. That uniformity of the platform Red Hat supports helps ensure that its customer base is as large as possible. Even small deviations in the underlying platform would fracture Red Hat's customer base into smaller sets.
Single point of control
When a single point of control for a large number of infrastructure elements exists, that point of control lends itself well to open source. The value in a point of control lies either in managing very specific workflows (as with most single-vendor management platforms) or in broadly orchestrating workflows across disparate elements in heterogeneous environments (as with SDN controllers). The former tends toward tightly integrated management/execution solutions, while the latter provides a fertile breeding ground for open source.
By adopting an open source framework as a nexus of control, the community helps ensure that individual players do not end up with monopolistic control that can then be used to unduly influence decisions further down the technology stack. In essence, open source creates a very natural counterbalance to what would otherwise be competitive efforts to create "sticky" solutions.
Nascent technology
Innovation is always important, but in a technology's formative stages, that innovation may not be focused in a particular direction. When the outcome is uncertain, the number of potential paths approaches infinity. During these times, the best thing for nascent technology is unbridled support. Open source allows the widest aperture for new ideas to come into the space, which makes it ideally suited for nascent technology spaces where iterative experimentation is necessary.
Open source does not preclude companies from creating protected innovations. Certainly, open source projects can be extended in commercial and even proprietary ways, depending on which open source license is in effect. But ultimately, open source ensures that access to the most important base concepts and foundational elements is uniform and open.
Driving the future
With these drivers in mind, it's relatively straightforward to see why open source plays a large role in certain areas of IT. On the server side, the proliferation of applications and the desire for those applications to be portable was enough to ensure the emergence of an open source compute platform like Linux. Once performance was good enough, differentiation was always going to move to the applications, which made unique platform capabilities unnecessary for the lion's share of apps. Where performance or specialty capabilities remain important, there is still a small market for special operating environments.
As we look to networking, open source seems like a foregone conclusion as well. The push toward SDN makes the controller space especially receptive to open source. The desire to have a common control platform capable of near-ubiquitous deployment -- and with control hooks into a large number of heterogeneous elements -- is likely enough to guarantee a significant role for open source in networking. This is a large part of why projects like OpenDaylight hold such promise. The viability of proprietary, stand-alone control platforms in the face of a push toward orchestration and automation is questionable at best, except in the case of niche workflows.
Storage would seem to be the next logical vertical to be impacted by open source. With a trend toward federated storage clusters, there will be a need for a central control mechanism, not unlike that of SDN. A single point of control spanning heterogeneous architectures is ideally suited for open source efforts.
The point here is not that open source is a necessary, evolutionary step, but rather that open source becomes a key ingredient as conditions in a technology space favor the value that open source brings. Where there is commonality in platform or control, open source will thrive. Where specialization is critical, open source is less relevant. As companies look at their own open source participation, they should examine natural points of convergence. The conditions more than the projects are likely to determine the success of open source across the various technology areas of IT.