Enterprise News

Apollo Tyres Creates BS7799 History







The Rs 2,600 crore Apollo Tyres became the first tyre manufacturing company

in the world during 2005 to achieve BS7799 certification. Not only did the

certification attained with the help of Wipro Infotech's Consulting division

enable Apollo Tyres implement an organization-wide robust Information Security

Management System, it also provided the company well-defined and documented

security policies, processes, and guidelines in place to preserve the

confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information at all stages of the

information lifecycle. The BS7799 was, incidentally, part of the

organization's ongoing process of implementing best practices across

functions.

Asserted Dheeraj Sinha, Head-IT, Apollo Tyres, “This

certification has enhanced our internal security processes in line with

international best standards. And these capabilities have resulted in better

risk assessment and prioritization.” Wipro's consultants had worked closely

with the IT team of Apollo Tyres to build the organization's capability and

preparedness to handle threats due to network, OS and application security

weaknesses. This, in turn, had allowed the company to create a strong foundation

to improve, and continuously monitor its infrastructure for any new threats and

mitigations to be carried out. The scope of engagement in the advisory phase

involved risk assessment, gap assessment, risk prioritization, control

selection, and risk mitigation. The rollout and implementation phase involved

conducting training workshops and handholding Apollo's IT team during the

implementation of policies and procedures. 

Apollo Extends Telemedicine Frontier



Apollo Hospitals joined hands with Reliance Infocomm to offer access to its

Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation (ATNF) through Reliance's nationwide

chain of 240 WebWorlds spread across 105 cities. With over 80 stations and 2,000

in-house specialists and super-specialists, this integrated multi speciality

telemedicine system, is the country's largest such network offering

high-quality healthcare. “By combining Reliance's 240 WebWorlds and

Apollo's 80 Telemedicine  Stations,

we have created a network few in the world can match. It has marked the

beginning of a new era in Indian healthcare,” boasted Dr Prathap C Reddy,

Chairman, Apollo Group of Hospitals.

The services offered by the Apollo-Reliance combine include

tele-consultation with specialists and super-specialists at Apollo Hospitals,

second opinion services relating to the diagnosis and management of a variety of

clinical conditions, specialist review of investigation reports such as ECG and

Echocardiography as well as seeking online appointment with doctors across the

Apollo Hospitals Network through Apolloedoc. Under the arrangement, people

living in areas devoid of high-class medical services could now go to the

nearest WebWorld and submit their medical histories and diagnostic reports that

are in turn digitized and transmitted over Reliance broadband network to

Apollo's centralized telemedicine portal. Subsequently, the patient is

provided consultation with specialists by videoconferencing at the WebWorld and

the expert opinion recorded in the Apollo Telemedicine portal and a printout

handed out.

OMNI Edge for Bajaj Allianz



Bajaj Allianz General Insurance (BAGIC) has derived significant competitive

edge in a fiercely fought marketplace by deploying the OMNI product suite from

Newgen, the Delhi-based worflow and document management product vendor. The

solutions rolled out included OmniDocs, OmniCapture as well as Remote Image

Servers (RIS) that allows BAGIC to get a view of documents online through its

core claims processing framework called Opus. This has resulted in one of the

fastest settlement of customer claims in BAGIC amongst any general insurance

companies in India, leading to the adoption of OmniDocs as a standard OEM

offering to all other Allianz sites in Eastern Europe.

OmniCapture, installed in all BAGIC branches, is used to

scan and upload documents. The uploaded documents are then archived

systematically in OmniDocs, and viewed securely through the Opus screens.

OmniDocs has been ported into the Oracle Application server and integrated as a

Web Service to Opus, thereby ensuring seamless user experience. RIS, installed

at all branches, help in caching documents locally, thus ensuring conservation

of bandwidth. Subsequent to the deployment OmniDocs and OmniCapture, BAGIC had

also gone for OmniReports and OmniExtract, thereby adopting Newgen's

end-to-end BPM solution. This solution currently supports 200 BAGIC users

concurrently working from different locations.  

BHEL Networks with Cisco



Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) invested nearly Rs 5 crore in a campus wide

connectivity project at its manufacturing unit in Trichy. The BHEL Trichy campus

(spread across 2,908 acres of land) ranks as one of the foremost manufacturing

facilities within the Indian power plant equipment market. Cisco was selected as

the infrastructure provider as well as the consultant for the project after a

competitive bidding process; it was particularly significant for the networking

vendor, being its single largest switching order within the manufacturing

vertical in the Asia Pacific region. With other BHEL units having already

deployed Cisco products, the Trichy implementation was another feather in

Cisco's cap.

The solution provided was a comprehensive integrated

network based on a 10 GB backbone. It included five core switches, seven

distribution switches, and a total of 152 Edge switches deployed throughout the

campus. Informed KV Seetharaman, Head-Informatics Centre, BHEL-Trichy, while

commenting on the deployment, “The existing network backbone in BHEL Trichy

was on ATM (OC3) technology that was deployed in the late 90s. The network

expanded in stages and products of different manufacturers have been deployed

during the expansions. To keep in pace with the latest technology, BHEL is going

in for 10 Gig backbone now.”

BHW Birla Homes in on FinnOne



BHW Birla Home Finance, a fully owned subsidiary of BHW Holding AG of

Germany and one of the fastest growing housing finance entities in India, has

implemented FinnOne, an end-to-end, housing finance solution from Nucleus

Software, across its 42 offices plus its satellite reach within India. The

FinnOne suite comprising of Loan Origination Systems (LOS), lending,

collections, general ledger and deposits offered BHW Birla a comprehensive

business solution for its pan-India operations in the housing finance space. The

deal also marked Nucleus' foray into the non-banking housing finance industry

in India.

After evaluation by PwC and Birla Home Finance, BHW Birla

opted for FinnOne influenced by factors such as product fitment, comprehensive

functionality, end-to-end solution offering, and number of implementations

across the globe and adherence to global standards. Built on the scalable Oracle

platform, FinnOne replaced the existing in-house developed software called

'ILMS' and was deployed in one single phase but across two separate OS.

Elaborated Martin Mueller, executive director, Birla BHW Home Finance, “In

Windows, the FinnOne solution is residing on the Application Server and in case

of UNIX it is residing on the Database Server. It interfaces with our deposits

software and initially, it has been implemented among at least 100 active

users.”

A Fillip for Delhi Tourism



The Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC)

launched Delhi Tourism portal, a multilingual interactive e-governance site,

with easily accessible information available in four different languages.

Developed using the Web portal solution from Cincom Systems, the site today

serves as a major hub for all DTTDC e-Commerce activities. Intended to attract

both foreign and domestic travelers, the site's implementation is a major step

for the Delhi government toward IT governance and to promote Delhi as a tourist

destination all over the world in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

 

Asserted Ramesh Negi, managing director, DTTDC, “We

wanted to position Delhi as the unmatched destination that has captured classic

modernity with an enamoring past, and at the same time, promote Delhi tourism as

a friend that one can rely on. Cincom's proven experience and the ability to

provide superior results in lesser time has now made this goal attainable in the

near future.” The Web portal solution has also opened up a new

revenue-generating channel for DTTDC. It also helps supporting both domestic as

well as international travelers.

Escorted by CA Solutions



Escorts Agri Machinery, a pioneer in agricultural and farm equipment

manufacturing in India since 1965, selected CA's Unicenter Network and Systems

Management (NSM) to ensure flawless functioning of the Escorts Network

Management system. The Unicenter NSM has helped Escorts with easy and proactive

management of network links and bandwidth, besides speedy restoration of links

and other network outages. Besides NSM, it was essential for Escorts to have a

proven data backup solution and a fool proof security platform in place;

precisely the reason why the company also went for the BrightStor ArcServe

Backup and eTrust Secure Content Manager.

Explained RK Jain, DGM-IT, Escorts AMG, “Our field

executives access all sorts of data and this called for a cautious security

policy. Tremendous amount of virus attacks also called for greater vigilance.

There were circumstances in which security has been compromised at Escorts AMG

and that was the reason why we decided to go in for an anti-virus solution.”

Some of the other benefits Escorts has derived by using CA solutions include

being able to adhere to the backup policies and major savings in time and the

integrity of the data. Another highlight for the company has been improvement in

the bandwidth usage with the non-productive usage of bandwidth being brought

under control. This tool has both reduced pressure on the IT team and has also

saved money on bandwidth.

Canara Bank Opens up to Linux



Canara Bank selected Red Hat Enterprise Linux as its platform of choice to

automate more than 1,000 of its branches across the country. Under the roll out

of Total Branch Automation (TBA) initiative, the bank is modernizing branch

automation through an in-house developed TBA package. This package has been

ported to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform by the Canara Bank subsidiary,

CanBank Computer Services. This incidentally marked the largest roll out of Red

Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in the Indian BFSI vertical till date.

RHEL is being deployed on more than 1,000 servers and

10,000 desktops at Canara Bank to power the bank's business critical IT

infrastructure. Under the first phase of deployment, roll out took place at

approximately 500 branches in a record time of three months. Close to 500 Red

Hat Enterprise Linux servers and 5000 Red Hat Desktops were deployed in this

phase. As part of its vision to introduce total automation into its banking

services environment, Canara Bank is now actively pursuing deployment in

additional branches as well. Red Hat has also provided training and help desk

services to Canara Bank for deployment and sustenance of the project over a long

term.

Retail's Rural Champion



Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar, one of the country's first rural retail

initiatives by DCM Shriram Consolidated (DSCL), has created a retail solution in

partnership SAP and Polaris. The initiative, named Project e-STARR (Systems and

Technology in Agri and Rural Retail) offered a retail solution that helps

Hariyali serve the rural customers better, while creating a strong

infrastructure for operations spread over multiple locations. The SAP solutions,

IS- Retail and SAP Retail Store, were implemented by Polaris, who integrated it

with the Polaris POS and Agri Service modules.

Harping on the benefits of e-STARR, Ajay Shriram, chairman

and Sr MD, DCM Shriram described it as a path breaking initiative of DSCL, which

is set to invigorate the industry's collaboration with the Indian farming

community. “DSCL has been at the forefront of adopting IT for business benefit

and improving customer satisfaction, and we believe that adoption of this

technology by Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar would will further allow benefits of

technology and innovation to percolate into the rural sectors as well,” he

added.

Weaving Magic at HDFC



The selection of Interwoven's Web Content Management (WCM) solution and

Content Distribution (CD) software by HDFC Bank has enabled the bank to enhance

customer experience, reduce operational costs and streamline compliance

processes related to its public-facing website. WCM has empowered relevant

business users across the organization to directly contribute, edit, and

maintain content on the Web, without assistance from the IT team. Further, by

leveraging the CD software, HDFC Bank has ensured that all Web content updates

are automatically deployed in a consistent and timely manner across its website.

The solutions have allowed the bank to free its IT

department to focus on other business-critical issues, for which they are

specialized to handle, thereby improving overall operational efficiency and

reducing IT costs. Informed Ajay Kelkar, head of marketing, HDFC Bank,

“Marketing promotions could not be updated in a timely manner across our Web

site, hindering time-to-market for new products, which often translated into

revenue losses. Inconsistency in branding across the site also meant that

customers were not receiving the best possible experience on our site, and this

needed to change quickly if we were going to continue strengthening our

leadership position in the market.” The woven solutions have helped HDFC to

meet these challenges by automating Web content publishing and enhancing search

functionality with robust and integrated metadata technology.

Indian's Global e-Ticketing Foray



Indian Airlines, recently re-christened as Indian, has partnered with

Amadeus to implement the first electronic ticketing solution in India with a

global reach. The national airline would be implementing the Amadeus Electronic

Ticket Server (ETS) to fully manage and distribute electronic tickets, including

interlining. The agreement is in relationship with IBM, who is undertaking the

upgradation of processes and systems at Indian to IATA e-ticketing standards.

The contract also reinforced Amadeus' position in the Indian subcontinent as

the e-ticketing leader, in terms of IT provision as well as e-ticket

distribution.

“Indian has moved a step forward and will offer e-tickets

by the end of this year,” asserted Anil Goyal, director-commercial, for the

airline, which expects to become fully compliant with IATA's objective to

achieve 100% paper-less air travel by end 2007. In addition to drastically

cutting Indian's ticketing costs, Amadeus ETS would help the carrier increase

operational efficiency and aid travel agents by reducing the workload associated

with the issuing, storage and distribution of traditional tickets. A stand-alone

solution, Amadeus ETS would seamlessly integrate into Indian's reservations

and departure control systems, enabling the carrier to interline efficiently

with 117 airlines across the world who are already part of the Amadeus

e-ticketing community, as well as with others on demand.

ING Vysya Goes on Filenet Lifeline



With the aim to become the top player in the life insurance space in India,

ING Vysya Life Insurance recently selected FileNet's ECM solution to help in

the management of content throughout the enterprise for the life insurance and

new business applications.

The solution was designed and an enterprise infrastructure

developed for ING Vysya Life by Datamatics Technologies on the FileNet P8

Platform. ING Vysya can now control processes better and achieve faster turn

around time with automated data entry in the core System, as well as image-based

processing. 

As ING Vysya Life increased in size, process

standardization became a significant task and it was imperative to implement a

solution that would help the company maintain its focus on its core business.

FileNet's integrated offering made it easier for ING Vysya to scan, index and

store documents-including proposal forms, age proofs, checklists, tax returns,

and medical reports-in a highly flexible and secure environment. As the

documents are stored online, they can be easily accessed and shared among users.

Agreed KR Subramanian, COO, ING Vysya Life, “The solution has helped us to

reduce operational costs with greater efficiency in the processing of a variety

of documents.” It has also realized benefits in the efficiency of handling

escalations, priority cases, and customer satisfaction.

XLRI MBA Through Videoconferencing



Jamshedpur-based XLRI, one of India's premier management institutes, tied

up with Reliance WebWorld to launch the Post-Graduate Certificate in Logistics

Supply Chain Management (PGCLSCM) program on a virtual classroom platform.

Father N Casimir Raj SJ, director, XLRI Jamshedpur, sounded

upbeat. “Our tie-up with WebWorld to offer the PGCLSCM on the real broadband

platform is taking the management training expertise of our faculty to several

virtual classrooms across India.” The professors use the WebWorld's

state-of—the-art video conferencing facility to reach out to the student

community across locations on a real time basis. Students can not only see and

hear the professor live, they can also interact with the professor and fellow

students at other locations. Those who missed the lecture can later catch up

with the video recording on-demand at the WebWorlds.

Infinite Power for Kanpur



Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (KESCO), the supplier of electricity and

power to the entire Kanpur zone in Uttar Pradesh, appointed Infinite Computer

Solutions to deliver a slew of integrated IT solutions to improve its

operational efficiency and customer responsiveness. The program, to be completed

in 12 months, comprised multiple projects such as GIS Based Consumer Indexing,

Energy Audit, and Accounting System (EAAS), Trouble Call Management System (TCMS),

Integrated Metering, Billing and Cash Collection with Online Payment update.

Infinite would also help KESCO achieve complete networking, covering interfaces

with Intranet and Internet with firewall protection, Web Server based Consumer

Information System, MIS and Decision Support System.

In one of the largest e-governance projects in the power

sector in India, the solutions would help KESCO improve its Billing and MIS

Processes, service delivery, and quality to help productivity enhancements along

with the reduction of Distribution Transformer wise/Feeder wise losses. Infinite

is currently executing the project of computerized billing and consumer indexing

of approximately 4.15 lakh consumers, which would help KESCO in improvising its

billing system and setting up of electricity call centers as a step towards

increasing its customer interface. Confirmed SN Bajpai, AGM Commercial, KESCO,

“Infinite's robust practices and domain expertise in power utilities would

help KESCO to make right use of IT to implement changes in delivering more value

to the public.”

Foundry Networks at Syntel's New Campus



Syntel, one of the globally leading offshore services vendors, selected

Foundry Network's high-performance switching and routing solutions to power

its entire new Global Development Center (GDC) in Pune. The BigIron RX,

high-performance 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) Terabit Routing Switches, now

powers the network core at Syntel's new campus making it the industry's

first 100 Gigabit ready switch with 10-GbE port density. Foundry Networks was

selected for Syntel's network infrastructure because of its ability to deliver

low latency, reliable and scalable solutions, and for Foundry's proven track

record at Syntel's other GDC in Chennai.

Foundry's FastIron WLAN POE Switches and IronPoint access

points were deployed throughout Syntel's campus to provide high-speed,

easy-to-manage and secure wireless LAN services. The entire network was designed

with highly available, resilient and redundant features to provide non-stop

operations. Foundry's ASIC based sFlow implementation provided Syntel with

advanced network monitoring, network auditing and intrusion detection

capabilities. Elaborated Sajid Ahmed, Global Head-Infrastructure, at Syntel,

“Network reliability and scalability are critical not only to Syntel, but to

our Fortune 500 clients who we serve through our global development centers.

Foundry not only won the price and features comparison against other vendors but

also prevailed in reducing the total cost of ownership as well as

future-proofing Syntel's network investment.” 

Suguna Hatches Oracle Strategy



One of India's leading poultry companies, Suguna Poultry Farm, deployed

Oracle Applications at nine of its divisions across seven states in the country.

The implementation by IBM Business Consulting Services was the first of its kind

in the Indian poultry farming sector and involved Suguna's corporate office,

seven regional offices and 74 branch offices, six grandparent poultry farms, 126

breeder farms, 35 hatcheries, 10,000 broiler farms, 30 feed mills and five

transportation offices. On completion, the Oracle Applications based technology

solution would support Suguna's entire integrated poultry business from the

management of the poultry breeding process right up to the packaging and

marketing of the end product.

 The Oracle

Applications modules deployed at Suguna included ERP, Advanced Pricing,

Enterprise Asset Management, Self Service Work Request, Incentive Compensation,

Advanced Supply Chain Planning and Constraint Based Optimization. This

pioneering infrastructure was implemented using the advanced partitioning and

virtualization feature available on IBM Power5 servers. Quipped Bsoundararajan,

MD, Suguna Poultry Farms, “As pioneers in integrated poultry farming in India

with 10,000 farmers from 270 business locations feeding into our supply chain,

IT has always been an integral part of our growth plans. With the assistance of

IBM and Oracle E-business suite we would be better positioned to support our

current and future growth.”

Nestle's Local DMS Goes Global



Nestle Globe implemented CD Sprint-a Distributor Management Software (DMS)

for a majority of its distributors across three continents of Asia, Oceania and

Africa (AOA). Incidentally, the application purchased from Botree Software, was

already being used by Nestle India for its local operations for the last six

years under the brand name Nesprint. Since it was already running live at 700+

sites for the last six years, Nestle short-listed and selected CD Sprint amongst

all other DMS packages for this global initiative.

As a Distributor Management System, Nesprint functioned

similar to an ERP for small distributors/stockists giving total control over

business operations to small trading partners who worked for Nestle. It recorded

all information on purchases, inventory transactions, promotions, claims, and

sales and also came with a built-in financial module. With the implementation of

this software globally, Nestle would benefit from uniformity in reporting,

allowing the company to talk the same language to all its distributors, pan Zone

AOA and get a consistent reply from each of them. In India, the solution

included a Web and PDA-based version that too were available to all of

Nestle's field representatives.

Toons Go Mobile



Capitalizing on the expanding wireless and emerging technologies business in

India and to further extend its brand presence, Turner International India

entered into a strategic tie-up with Mobile2win, one of the country's leading

wireless services providers. As part of this venture, Mobile2win India provides

interactive wireless solutions for popular Turner International India channels,

namely CNN, Cartoon Network, and Pogo. It has also announced 8558 as the new

short code for all three channels.

The popular shows and characters of Cartoon Network and

Pogo are now available on the small screen in a variety of genres, while CNN

viewers can enter SMS contests as well. Earlier kids also participated in SMS

contests developed for Pogo's fourth original production Bam! Bam! Bam! Gir

Pade Hum... and Pogo Amazing Kids Awards 2005, via the new short code 8558.

Cartoon Network's signature event, Toon Cricket 2005 also added mobile

interactivity to their promotional plans.  Going

forward, mobile2win would also create a WAP site for the Turner group, to

showcase the rich content of Cartoon Network, Pogo, and CNN that would be

available for download. “With the exponential growth of mobile users in India,

wireless activity integrated with television is an exciting medium of increasing

viewership,” felt Anshuman Misra, managing director, Turner International

India.

IT's Healing Touch at Wockhardt



Wockhardt, one of India's premier pharma and healthcare companies,

implemented the HIRePS (Hospital Information Resource Planning System) Hospital

Information System (HIS) across its hospitals thereby significantly enhancing

patient and employee satisfaction. Developed and deployed by Wipro Healthcare

IT, this HIS is based on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft SQL Server

2000, and integrates with Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 to send automatic

reports and alerts to the relevant people. The solution was designed to

integrate both the inpatient and outpatient departments. This ensured that

required departments had access to requisite patient information thus helping

reduce the time taken to process patient needs.

No wonder, therefore, that HIRePS has helped Wockhardt

substantially improve patient and employee experience, reduce waiting time and

improve inventory management and billing. Agreed Lloyd Nazareth, general

manager, Wockhardt Hospitals, “Wipro's Hospital Information System helps run

the Wockhardt Hospitals in efficient and cost-effective manner. The HIS system

puts clinical and financial information at our fingertips, helping doctors and

administrators in critical decision making. The improved efficiency has

obviously resulted in a better experience for the patients as well.” Wockhardt

Hospitals collaborated with Harvard Medical International (HMI) in the solution

evaluation process when HIRePS was selected. The HIS system had interfaces to

laboratory equipment, telephone exchange, mobile phones and pagers, attendance

recording system, and financial accounting systems; and included 36 modules,

including various inpatient and outpatient management and patient record

management modules.

ATM Outsourcing by PSU Banks



Two leading public sector banks, Bank of Maharashtra and Vijaya Bank, have

outsourced the deployment and management of their network of 525 ATMs across

India to Financial Software & Systems (FSS). The two contracts together for

both the banks are valued at Rs 110 crore. While Bank of Maharashtra opted for

the outsourced model for the ATMs over a five-year period, Vijaya Bank preferred

the owned ATM model, with the contract for ATM managed services for eight years.

In the outsourced ATM model for Bank of Maharashtra, the

ATMs and the related services are outsourced to FSS, whereas in the owned ATM

model, the ATMs are owned by Vijaya bank, and the services are outsourced to FSS.

The ATM outsourcing contracts included comprehensive maintenance, network

monitoring, site security, cash forecasting and replenishment, as well as help

desk, reconciliation and settlement services. FSS would install ATMs and all

related equipments at the sites selected by the banks and drive the ATMs from

FSS centre in Chennai with back office support and disaster recovery support

from Mumbai. Services provided included online transaction authorization, ATM

and Debit card management functions, interchange support, transaction reporting

and back office functions.

SCADA Support for ONGC



ONGC awarded a Rs 430 crore contract to ABB India to provide an enterprise

wide Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for its production

and drilling facilities. The turnkey project, to be completed by 2007 end, would

involve site survey, system design, engineering, supply, installation and

commissioning of an integrated three-tier SCADA system. The contract also

included a six-year post warranty Annual Maintenance Services agreement with

ABB.

Some of the key benefits expected of the SCADA system would

include reduction in time, effort and cost of integration, enhanced reliability

and scalability, monitoring and control of assets across locations and improved

efficiency in operations. The system would enable ONGC to integrate its basins,

plants, forward base and other assets to the corporate data center, facilitating

'anytime-anywhere' access to data and real-time performance management. It

would also improve the performance and efficiency of ONGC's onshore and

offshore facilities. The oil and gas industry spans a long process chain-from

exploration and drilling to consumer delivery, making it critical for companies

to plan, manage and optimize their assets. SCADA would enable ONGC to monitor,

control and manage vital data across locations and enable faster

decision-making.

Pathways Scripts IT Destiny



Pathways World School, a International Baccalaureate School in Northern

India, installed Library Management Software called “Destiny” at a cost of

Rs 2.5 lakh. Developed by US based Follett Software, Destiny is designed to

simplify handling of library with its highly flexible features. To sustain the

Destiny implementation, the network architecture was put in place at Pathways by

Cisco with a bandwidth around 512 kbps. A Wi-Fi network was also put in place

and laptops with Windows OS provided to the students.

Informed Prashant Jain, director, Pathways World School,

“Installing the advanced Library Management Software Destiny has made our

library more efficient and user friendly. Moreover, it has saved a lot of manual

work and worry.” Destiny integrated key library automation functions such as

circulation, searching, reporting and inventory management. It also offered

catalog functions, which enabled students and staff to search the entire media

collection from anywhere in the school and reserve it. The librarian needed to

scan the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) into the software and

subsequently, it immediately pulled out records of the book from the Follett

database and various servers across the world. In Destiny, online public access

catalogue is connected to the Web. So any student can access the library

catalogue from anywhere and check the availability of the book and can then

reserve the same for him.

Valvoline Adopts SAP Standardization



Valvoline Cummins, a 50:50 JV between Valvoline International, part of

Ashland, and Cummins Diesel Sales & Service and a leading manufacturer and

distributor of lubricants (oils and greases), filters, specialty chemicals and

car care products, implemented SAP for its operations in India. As a part of its

worldwide initiative, Ashland was implementing SAP under the 'GlobalOne'

project to improve overall efficiency and productivity of its operations in the

US and other countries. It was the intention of Valvoline Cummins to implement

SAP (version same as that of GlobalOne project) for operations in India and

eventually become a part of GlobalOne project. Additionally, Valvoline Cummins

intended to have a system in place for supporting corporate governance.

Satyam acted as a strategic partner to Valvoline Cummins to

implement SAP and create an integrated solution that could efficiently carry out

its business processes. Valvoline Cummins implemented SAP R/3 which included

finance & accounts and localization, costing and controlling among others.

Naveen Gupta, Managing Director, Valvoline Cummins lauded Satyam as an

implementation partner. “Satyam demonstrated an exceptional track record of

implementing SAP based Applications and system integrations in the manufacturing

domain. We are optimistic about a sustained and fruitful relationship with

Satyam in the years to come.”

A SATHI For the Indian Army



The Indian Army became the first military in the world to use the open

source OS to power its handheld computers called Situational Awareness and

Tactical Handheld Information (SATHI). Jointly produced by Encore Software in

collaboration with the Indian Army, SATHI is powered entirely by Linux. The

product was initially named Baaz and tested and deployed for counter insurgency

operations in Jammu & Kashmir, following which it was inducted in mechanized

warfare and infantry operations.

SATHI is powered by the 2.4.18 GNU/Linux kernel, and

keeping in mind the sensitive nature of its operations, it is not a standard

distribution. It has been specially ported to run on a 400 Mhz ARM RISC

processor with 128 MB RAM and 96 MB flash. It runs on a 128-bit encrypted (DES)

standard, capable of withstanding temperatures between -20 C to +70 C, with a

range of 5 km, an inbuilt RF modem, and a GPS receiver-all with 24 hours of

battery life and weighing just 875 grams. A software called GIPSY converts GIS

maps into a readable format for SATHI. As part of an initial development

contract, 120 SATHIs have been delivered to the Indian Army. The army collects

military reports from various SATHIs to channel them into a command center that

allows the battalion commander to visually see the battle ground from a remote

position. The command center runs a combination of Red Hat 9.0 and Fedora Core

2.

Bangalore's SAP Makeover



The much maligned Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the planning

authority for Bangalore metropolitan area deployed SAP solutions to automate and

integrate its processes across various departments. HCL was chosen as the

implementation partner to design, develop, implement and support the integrated

management information system. This was part of BDA's Comprehensive

Development Plan (CDP) for the Bangalore Metropolitan area.

Claimed M N Vidyashankar, Commissioner, BDA, “The

e-governance project, first of its kind in the country, would integrate the

numerous processes and also bring the various divisions on to a common platform,

enabling a single-window view for clearance and information updation.” Even

the Online Complaint Management System (OCMS) of BDA has laid the foundation for

effective partnership between government and citizens in Bangalore, which

enables them to participate constructively in the e-governance process.

Vidyashankar believed that the SAP solution would further empower senior

officials to take right decisions at the right time with ease thereby optimizing

on resources reducing, reaction time and enhancing efficiency.”

NGO's Telemedicine Dream Turns Real



Byrraju Foundation, an NGO, has launched telemedicine services in ten

villages in Andhra Pradesh which now have a last mile robust connectivity. Over

the next three months, the service will be rolled out to 150 villages across the

state. The service is based on Satyam's web-enabled healthcare platform which

is built on Oracle's Healthcare Transaction Base (Oracle-HTB). Oracle has

provided this software free of cost to Byrraju.

The phase I implementation of the solution would enable

registering and searching patients and their records, their primary health

details and tracking primary health prescriptions in the areas of infant

vaccination, maternal care, hypertension, and school health. In phase II, the

solution would extend its coverage to areas like dental and eye care, epilepsy,

cancer detection, and health insurance. By using Oracle HTB, Satyam ensured that

the entire system would comply with the industry required HL7 compliance (Health

Level 7). HL 7 is the industry standard for the exchange of clinical data in the

hospital environment. Commented PK Madhav, lead partner, Byrraju Foundation,

while speaking on the planned implementation, “ It is a great opportunity for

us to help save lives in remote areas with a world-class technology backed

health solution. We are glad that Satyam and Oracle have helped us in this noble

cause, with an effective system with which we can track and manage the health of

thousands of people.”

Reliance Connects its Petrol Pumps



Reliance Industries connected 1000 of its retail petroleum outlets across

the country through DiRECWAY 7700 platform, a two-way satellite broadband

solution from HECL. The deal valued at Rs 8 crores involved Hughes installing a

technology backbone for all of Reliance petroleum outlets in a phased manner,

connecting 3000 outlets by end of 2006.

Reliance became the first customer to use this in India

that would run all its applications on a single infrastructure. These

applications included tank monitoring, sales management, credit access, back

office applications, POS services and value added services like Wi-Fi access,

multicasting, package delivery and internet access. Hughes would build, manage

and provide on ground support for all these services. Hughes would enable

turnkey networking solutions encompassing network design, data center services,

security infrastructure, VPN services, systems integration, facility management

of network components and a 24X7 network management services for the connected

outlets.

Andhra Bank Goes Mobile on ATMs



Andhra Bank became one of the first banks to introduce the mobile ATM in the

country. Licensed by Reserve Bank of India, the bank would ply the ATMobile

initially at Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts in Andhra Pradesh. The ATMs

would provide services like balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, mini statement,

funds transfer, cash against credit cards, utility payments and mobile recharge,

and wou