Bharti, IBM ink 10-year agreement for IT solutions in Africa

Extending its partnership with IBM , telecom major Bharti airtel has now awarded a 10-year contract to the technology giant for providing IT solutions to its employees across 16 African countries.

Under the new agreement, IBM will provide end-user services to airtel employees across Africa in French and English.

IBM's 100-year journey, from clocks, scales to...

It will provide a standard operating environment, 'help desk' and 'desk side' support to enhance employee efficiency and convenience, Bharti airtel said in a statement.

However, the value of the deal was not disclosed.

India Inc discovers Africa

The consolidation of airtel's helpdesks is expected to bring about greater cost savings and efficiencies through streamlining of the processes for addressing IT operational issues.

IBM is already managing Bharti airtel's IT operations in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 16 African countries.

Rise, fall and rise of IBM in India

It will also include an enhanced information enterprise security solution that further strengthens airtel's commitment to customer data privacy.

Last year, Bharti airtel had acquired Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African business for $10.7 billion.

The announcement builds on the strategic partnership announced by airel and IBM in late 2010 for the management of the computing technology and services powering Airtel's mobile communications network spanning 16 African countries, it added.

Outsourcing of key operational functions has been key to Bharti airtel's low-cost, high-volume business model that has helped it to build a subscriber base of over 140 million customers in India.

IBM will also be responsible for the implementation and maintenance of a standard operating environment, using platforms, tools and management processes.

"This agreement enables us to provide the best IT capabilities to our employees with a focus on making innovative mobile solutions available across Africa," Bharti Airtel Chief Executive Officer (International) and Joint Managing Director Manoj Kohli said.

Bharti airtel and IBM's relationship began in 2004, when the telecom operator selected IBM to handle IT and applications for its entire network in India.

Bharti airtel currently has over 44 million customers across 16 African countries and is targeting 100 million subscribers by 2015.

"This latest agreement will bring enhanced efficiencies to benefit customers, employees and business partners of Bharti airtel," IBM General Manager (Growth Markets) Bruno Di Leo said.

The new agreement was signed in the first quarter of 2011.

read more

Software Business

Software Business is the profitable activity of the software industry, aimed at producing, buying and advertising software products or software services.

The business of software differs from other businesses, in that its main good is indescribable and fixed costs are high while va Cusumano and Nambisan divide software companies into service and product companies according to how they conduct business costs are close to zero

Software services business can be categorized into following categories:Companies that afford consultation services associated to software business and Companies that offer software development services as a subcontractor.Characteristics of Service Operation that are suitable to software services industry are Intangibility ,Perishability,Heterogeneity.

Free download Street Fighter IV Championship Mode

Make the grade this April 24th with Championship Mode's tournament matches

In case Street Fighter IV's multiplayer isn't already honing your competitive edge, you'll be pleased to know that the new Championship Mode update for the brawler remains on track for an April 24th release online. Championship Mode brings tournament matches to SFIV, allowing players to earn Grade Points (GP) and Championship Points (CP) to rank in 5 different grades of tournaments covering all skill levels. The grading system for matches will work as follows:

• SG Championship (SUPER GRADE): 5 rounds long. The highest grade championship in which only top players can participate.
• G1 Championship (GRADE 1):5 rounds long, for advanced players
• G2 Championship (GRADE 2): 4 rounds long, for intermediate players
• G3 Championship (GRADE 3) 3 rounds long, for beginners
• FREE Championship (Free Grade): 4 rounds long, open to anyone regardless of their level.

The more GP you earn by winning tournament matches, the more exclusive tournaments you can enter. This in turn gives you a shot at earning even more CP, which are essentially the "Gamerscores" for SFIV players. According to Capcom, players don't typically lose GP even during first-round losses except at the highest levels of tourney play, as the system was designed to reward participation first and foremost.

Championship Mode even saves replays of matches, which the top 5000 CP leaders can upload for sharing. There are exclusive replay features for each console platform:

• On PS3, viewers can watch your replay and vote in real time according to characteristics like "beautiful" or "funny." For the nerds, you can vote once every 30 frames (that’s 2x a second!), although there is a cap to avoid total vote spamming. Replays will be ranked according to the user-submitted reviews, making it easy to find the flavor of replays you want to see.
• On X360, you can’t vote on the matches, but you can watch and then save a number of your favorites. While watching your saved matches, you’ll also have the option to turn on input commands (just like the Training Mode option), so you can see the gritty details of exactly what button and joystick inputs the top players are using to win.

Street Fighter IV's Championship Mode will remain a free download for both PS3 and Xbox 360 owners of the game, which is certainly the good news Capcom needs after all the stink which surrounded Resident Evil 5's controversial Versus mode DLC.

Source: http://www.neoseeker.com/news/10484-free-street-fighter-iv-championship-mode-download-detailed/