Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation specializes in developing and marketing enterprise software products — particularly database management systems. Through organic growth and through a number of high-profile acquisitions, Oracle enlarged its share of the software market. By 2007 Oracle ranked third on the list of largest software companies in the world, after Microsoft and IBM.^[2] Subsequently it became larger than IBM after its acquisition of Hyperion and of BEA.

The corporation has arguably become best-known due to association with its flagship Oracle database. The company also builds tools for database development, middle-tier software, enterprise resource planning software (ERP), customer relationship management software (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) software.

The founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, Larry Ellison, has served as Oracle's CEO throughout the company's history. Ellison also served as the Chairman of the Board until his replacement by Jeffrey O. Henley in 2004. Ellison retains his role as CEO.

Ellison took inspiration^{[citation needed]} from the 1970 paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database systems named "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks".^[3] He had heard about the IBM System R database from an article in the IBM Research Journal provided by Ed Oates (a future co-founder of Oracle Corporation). System R also derived from Codd's theories, and Ellison wanted to make his Oracle product compatible with System R, but IBM stopped this by keeping the error codes for their DBMS secret. Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979 SDL changed its name to Relational Software, Inc. (RSI). In 1982, RSI renamed itself as Oracle Systems^[4] to align itself more closely with its flagship product Oracle Database. At this stage Robert Miner served as the company's senior programmer.

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" (for its official corporate color), is a multinational computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.^[4]

IBM has been known through most of its recent history as the world's largest computer company. With over 388,000 employees worldwide, IBM is the largest and most profitable information technology employer in the world. IBM holds more patents than any other U.S. based technology company and has eight research laboratories worldwide.^[5] Known for its highly talented workforce, the company has scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals in over 170 countries.^[6] IBM employees have earned three Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, five National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science.^[7] As a chip maker, IBM has been among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders in past years, and in 2007 IBM ranked second in the list of largest software companies in the world.^[8]

Web-Based Uniform Crime Reporting System

Web-Based Uniform Crime Reporting System

Already in use by the State of Pennsylvania, the Web-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System automates the collection and reporting of crime information to police department personnel and U.S. citizens nationwide. With the UCR system, law-enforcement agencies are spending more time on public safety issues and fighting crime and less on administrative processes.
The UCR system performs administrative tasks, helps file law enforcement employee information, and aids local police in submitting crime-incidence reports electronically to state police – who in turn submit the data in a specific format to the FBI. Powered by WebFOCUS, the UCR system has extensive reporting capabilities and facilitates the ability to spot criminal trends by tracking crime over time. In addition, the system allows for the creation of annual state crime reports, time-specific formatted intelligence, and detailed query reports specific to a department, county, and/or state.
WebFOCUS allows the UCR system to access innumerable data sources across multiple platforms, detect errors, and generate automatic alerts for system inaccuracies. Overall, the UCR system reduces costs by eliminating manual processing, while assisting in strategic planning and improving overall data integrity.
"Since 1975, we have supplied government agencies on all levels, with the essential technology best suited for their immediate needs," said Gerald Cohen, CEO of Information Builders. "In today's world, government requirements have drastically changed and it is now imperative that government officials have the ability to draw actionable, time-sensitive information from new or existing data sources for immediate utilization. With our new heightened awareness for homeland security, we put forth a strengthened initiative to provide the intelligence and government communities with the required integrated, collaborative technologies to minimize threat management and properly secure the country through enhanced information sharing capabilities."

iWay Security Exchange

Recently recognized by Software Business Magazine as the "Best Security Initiative," the iWay Security Exchange (iSE) is a complete software and services solution that facilitates government, law enforcement, and private industry information exchange and sharing. This comprehensive solution enables real-time data exchange with little to no impact on existing information assets.
Built to run on 35 different platforms, including the Microsoft BizTalk® or IBM WebSphere® software platform, iSE delivers essential, time-critical information via Web portals and mobile computing devices. Enforcing information security rules within and among independent organizations, it also enables independent protection and management of information through the seamless exchange of common-interest information between disparate systems.
Based on the ability to leverage existing information systems, iSE immediately enables over 200 systems without programming. This allows for the immediate interconnection of stovepipe systems and islands of legacy data.

Apple creates executive iPhone software position

Apple creates executive iPhone software position

Apple last week made several executive changes to the company, including creating a new position related to iPhone software. AppleInsider reports that Scott Forstall, who previously held the position of vice president of iPhone software, was promoted to Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, a new position that will have Forstall reporting directly to CEO Steve Jobs. Prior to the iPhone, Forstall held the position of Vice President of Platform Experience and was responsible for several releases of Mac OS X. He also played a major role during Apple’s iPhone Software Roadmap event. Along with Forstall’s promotion, the company also named Bob Mansfield Senior Vice President of Mac Hardware Engineering.

Satyam hunts for CEO, PM briefed on developments

Hyderabad/New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) The fraud-hit Satyam Computers Monday began the hunt for a new CEO and will get a new auditor in two days to work out the correct financial position of the company whose founder-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju spent the third day in jail after admitting to the country's biggest financial fraud of Rs.70 billion (Rs. 7,000 crore).
Hyderabad/New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) The fraud-hit Satyam Computers Monday began the hunt for a new CEO and will get a new auditor in two days to work out the correct financial position of the company whose founder-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju spent the third day in jail after admitting to the country's biggest financial fraud of Rs.70 billion (Rs. 7,000 crore).
The decision to look for a CEO as well as a chief financial officer was taken by the government-appointed three-member board at its first meeting in Hyderabad Monday as market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman C.B. Bhave briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on his agency's investigation into the affairs of India's fourth largest IT bellwether.
'Top priority is to restore the confidence of customers, employees, suppliers and investors and ensure business continuity,' Deepak Parekh, chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and one of the three board members appointed by the government Sunday, told a press conference after the meeting.
'This is an enormous task,' he added.
Another area of concern was the company's liquidity position, Parekh said, flanked by two other members, former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik and former SEBI member C. Achuthan.
The first meeting of the board at Satyam's corporate office in Hyderabad took place as a local court postponed to Jan 16 the bail plea of Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju, who was the company's managing director.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D. Ramakrishna also adjourned to Friday hearing on SEBI's plea to question the two brothers and the Andhra Pradesh police's appeal seeking their custody.
The Raju brothers have engaged a battalion of 25 lawyers to defend them.
The brothers were arrested late Friday, the day the central government sacked the Satyam board and announced it will appoint new members. The Rajus and former Satyam's chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas have been sent to jail by Ramakrishna till Jan 23.
The three have been kept at Chanchalguda Central Jail in Hyderabad.
Srinivas is believed to have made startling allegation in his confessional statement to the police that the fixed deposits, which the Rajus claimed, were unreal and fictitious. He also blamed the auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for the mess.
'The bank deposits were handled directly by Raju and I was specifically asked not to look into it,' the police quoted Srinivas as saying in his statement.
The search for a CEO and a CFO are part of measures to restore credibility and confidence in the country's fourth largest outsourcer and ensure business continuity.
There will also be a new accounting firm in two days to go over the company's finances and present a correct picture.
'We will appoint a new accounting firm in 48 hours to restate the financial position and are in talks with two auditing firms (for the job),' Parekh said.
Parekh, Karnik and Achuthan, met through the day familiarising themselves with the firm's financial position and talking to several senior staff.
Parekh said that restating the financial position was essential as 'none has faith in the figures (given by Ramalinga Raju)'.
A few more members will be appointed to the board soon. 'The full board will elect the chairman (of the board),' he added.
He said finding a CEO and CFO was not going to be easy. 'Not many will like to leave their current position for this job. It will take time. We are hopeful of finding people soon,' he added.
On Satyam's cash position, Parekh said there was not much outstanding against receivables (payment from customers). 'We expect payments to flow regularly. We may also offer incentives for early payment,' he said. Most of the software companies give their customers up to 60 days' time to make payment for their completed services.
He denied that his being on the board of directors of WNS Global Services, a BPO company, was in conflict with being a Satyam board member.
'We have been appointed by the government, which has taken into account these issues. We are known as special directors,' Parekh asserted.
He said Karnik had resigned Monday as director of Emergency Management and Research Institute (to avoid conflict of interest as EMRI was promoted by the disgraced Satyam founder).
Responding to questions, Karnik said he 'does not expect clients to move away because Satyam has been been handling their mission critical applications'.
'The fact that the government has moved in swiftly (to appoint a new board) gives enough hope to clients and employees that the company will be put back on track,' Karnik said.
Achuthan said Ram Mynampati, a wholetime director whom Ramalinga Raju named as interim CEO when he resigned, was no longer a board member. 'That board is no longer there.'
'Mynampati is, however, an employee of Satyam,' Achuthan said.
On whether the new board was open to merger of Satyam, Parekh shot back: 'Do you expect us to discuss merger in public?'
In the national capital, meanwhile, official sources said that the prime minister was also keeping a close watch on the developments and was keen that the employees of Satyam do not suffer because of the misappropriations by its top brass.
'The PM has directed the cabinet secretary (K.M. Chandrasekhar) to coordinate the response of the government in consultations with senior officials of the finance ministry and the ministry of corporate affairs,' an official in Prime Minister's Office said.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath also maintained that the government was looking at all options to help the company, which, he maintained, was an exceptional case where there may have been delinquencies by its erstwhile management, but there was not of any systematic failure.
'The government is looking at all aspects,' Kamal Nath told reporters outside his office here. 'Once the board comes up with its proposals, the government will consider,' the minister added.
'There is no question of slur on India's corporate governance.'
The developments had a positive impact on the shares of Satyam, which jumped by 44.2 percent to Rs.34.40.

Top 10 software companies in India

The Indian software industry is set to keep up its growth rate despite the slowdown in the economy. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has forecast a strong outlook for FY08-09 strong with software and services revenue seen growing by 21-24 per cent. The software and services exports are set to hit the $50 billion-mark.
The software and services exports segment grew by 29 per cent (in USD) to register revenues of $40.4 billion in FY07-08, up from $31.4 billion in FY06-07. The domestic segment grew by 26 per cent (in INR) to register revenues of $ 11.6 billion in FY07-08. According to the latest Nasscom rankings, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Wipro Technologies Ltd are the top 3 revenue generators in India. Check out the top ten players in the Indian IT industry.
TCS
Founded in 1968, TCS is one of India's largest corporate houses. It is also India's largest IT employer with a staff strength of 111,000 employees.
The company began as a division of the Tata Group, called the Tata Computer Centre. Its main business was to offer computer services to other group companies. Soon the company was spun off as Tata Consultancy Services after it realised the huge potential of the booming IT services.
The company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,290.61 crore (Rs 12.90 billion) for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008, an increase of 7.3 per cent compared to the year-ago period.Its annual sales worldwide stands at $5.7 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2008. During the year 2007-08,
TCS' consolidated revenues grew by 22 per cent to Rs 22,863 crore ($5.7 billion). S. Ramadorai, is the chief executive officer and managing director of TCS.
TCS is IDC-Dataquest IT best employer in IT services in 2007. TCS also topped DataQuest DQTop 20 list of IT service providers in 2007.

2. Wipro

What started off as a hydrogenated cooking fat company, Wipro is today is a $5 billion revenue generating IT, BPO and R&D services organisation with presence in over 50 countries.
Premji started Wipro with the 'idea of building an organisation which was deeply committed to values, in the firm belief that success in business would be its inevitable, eventual outcome'. The company has over 72,000 employees.
Wipro's revenues grew by 33 per cent to Rs 19,957 crore (Rs 200 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2008. The net profit grew by 12 per cent to Rs. 3,283 crore (Rs. 32.83 billion). The revenues of the combined IT businesses was $4.3 billion with 43 per cent YoY growth.
Wipro was the only Indian company to be ranked among the top 10 global outsourcing providers in IAOP's 2006 Global Outsourcing 100 listing. Wipro has also won the International Institute for Software Testing's Software Testing Best Practice Award.

3. Infosy

Infosys Technologies Ltd was started in 1981 by seven people with $250. Today, the company boasts of revenues of over $ 4 billion and 94,379 employees.
Under the leadership of N R Narayana Murthy, the company has become a global brand. The company is now headed by Kris Gopalakrishnan. The income for the quarter ended June 30 2008 was Rs 4,854 crore (Rs 48.54 billion). The net profit stood at Rs 1,302 crore (Rs 13.02 billion).
Forbes magazine named Infosys in its list of Global High Performers. Waters magazine rated Infosys as the Best Outsourcing Partner. The Banker magazine conferred two Banker Technology Awards on Infosys to acclaim its work in wholesale and capital markets in two categories - Payments and Treasury Services, and Offshoring and Outsourcing.
The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) ranked Infosys at No. 3 in its '2008 Global Outsourcing 100'.

4. Satyam Computer Services

Established in 1987 by Ramalinga Raju, Satyam has a staff strength of 51,000 employees. In 2008, the company's revenues crossed the $ 2-billion mark.
'A simple, yet extensive management model to create value, which promotes entrepreneurship, a focus on the customer, and the constant pursuit of excellence,' is the company's mantra for success. In FY2008, its revenues saw a growth of 30.7 per cent to Rs 8,473.49 crore (Rs 84.73 billion) compared to fiscal 2007.
The net profit stood at Rs 1,687.89 crore (Rs 16.87 billion), a growth of 20.2 per cent over fiscal 2007. Satyam is among the youngest IT service companies to reach $1 billion in annual revenues. It is ranked No. 1 in the ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) BEST Award, 2007.

5. HCL Technologies

HCL is a leading global technology player with annual revenues of $4.9 billion. The HCL Enterprise comprises two companies listed in India, HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems. Founded in 1976, HCL is one of 'India's original IT garage start ups'.
The HCL team comprises 53,000 professionals of diverse nationalities, operating across 18 countries. At a time when India had a total of 250 computers, Shiv Nadar led a young team which passionately believed in the growth of the IT industry.
Three decades later, he succeeded in creating a $ 4.9 billion global enterprise. The company has reported consolidated revenue of Rs 3017.5 crore (Rs 30.17 billion) during the quarter ended March 31, 2008. The profit after tax stood at Rs. 81.5 crore (Rs 815 million).

6. Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra was incorporated as a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and BT plc in 1986 under the name of 'Mahindra-British Telecom'.
Later, the name was changed to 'Tech Mahindra', in order to reflect the diversification and growth of the client base and service offerings. The company was incorporated in 1986. Tech Mahindra is a global systems integrator and business transformation consulting firm focused on the communications industry. At the helm of the fast expanding organisation is Vineet Nayyar.
In a career spanning over 40 years, he has worked with the government, international multilateral agencies and the corporate sector. Tech Mahindra's net profit rose 8.57 per cent to Rs 196.4 crore (Rs 1.96 billion) on 6.09 per cent growth in net sale to Rs 911.6 crore (Rs 9.11 billion) in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.