Computer Hardware Updates: 25/06/09

 

DELL INDIA TO HIRE FROM CAMPUSES
M. Somasekhar, V. Rishi Kumar, Hyderabad
The Hindu Business Line

While most global IT majors are trimming both manpower and operations in India, Dell Inc. continues to scout for fresh talent from engineering colleges.

With India operations playing a significant role in both research and global operations, Dell requires bright engineers both at the entry level and for lateral positions, said Ms Rhonda Gass, Vice-President, Information Technology, DBI (Design, Build and Integrate) at Dell Inc. Some of the staff located in the US are also being encouraged to move to Indian facilities.

The company has approached Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, CBIT and the IIIT in Hyderabad as well as other leading colleges in the South to recruit engineers.

Researchers in India play a key role in the development and deployment of new solutions that manage globally dispersed manufacturing bases for Dell, explained Ms Gass. Dell has a manufacturing plant in Chennai. Over the last few years, teams at the Bangalore and Hyderabad centres have assumed an important role in Dell’s day-to-day operations. Some of the solutions they developed have been deployed at the Chennai and other manufacturing bases, she said.

During her brief visit to the research centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore, Ms Gass explained to Business Line how her teams dispersed across the world help in the different functions of the company, including data centres and warehouses.

“For Dell, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, China, India) countries are perceived as major markets for future growth as they are seen to be riding the next wave of opportunities. The investments we have made in India are more due to availability of talent. Also, we can be closer to customers,” she explained.

INTEL TO FOCUS ON MOBILE INTERNET DEVICES
Chennai
The Hindu

Mobile Internet devices, consumer electronics and embedded market would be three major focus areas for chip-maker Intel Corporation.

Indicating this on Wednesday, Navin Shenoy, Vice-President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Intel Corporation, said all the three areas — worth $10 billion each — offered immense business possibilities for Intel in the coming years.

The launch of the next generation Atom family of processors, the smallest processors built with the world’s smallest transistors, would go a long way in facilitating Intel’s business exploration into these areas, he said. In this context, Shenoy said Intel signed a technology partnership agreement with Nokia.

Earlier in the day, a joint release said Intel and Nokia announced a long-term relationship to develop a new class of Intel® Architecture-based mobile computing device and chipset architectures, which would combine the performance of powerful computers with high-bandwidth mobile broadband communications and ubiquitous Internet connectivity.

“To realise this shared vision, both companies are expanding their long-standing relationship to define a new mobile platform beyond today’s smart phones, notebooks and net books, enabling the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services,” the release said. This strategic partnership would enable Intel to get into mobile market more aggressively, as the technology was advancing towards smart phones, Shenoy said. Intel, whose microprocessors were found in eight out of ten personal computers, already was working with LG Electronics on mobile devices, he said. Besides him, R. Sivakumar, Managing Director (Sales and Marketing group), Intel South Asia, and R. Ravichandran, Director (Sales), South Asia, were also present.

Keeping the PC (personal computer) platform as a base, the other markets such as mobile would evolve and this, in turn, would grow the chip market, he said.

VIRTUAL PC
The Financial Express

LG Electronics is introducing flatscreen monitors that can function as virtual computers. The new LCD monitors will incorporate NComputing’s virtualisation products that enable upto 11 people to share a single PC. NComputing technology enables a single PC or server to be virtualised so that many users can tap the unused capacity and share it as if each person had their own computer. Each person has his own keyboard, monitor, mouse, and personal files, but can share common applications and settings stored on the single PC. With the sub-$200 computing solution, LG and NComputing expect the new monitors to significantly cut ownership and maintenance costs.