B4U India

Maximizer Software unveils ''Maximizer CRM Central'' online community

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:29:00 -0400

Maximizer Software (TSX:MAX), a leading provider of simple, accessible customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, today announced the launch of Maximizer CRM Central (www.maximizercrmcentral.com), an online community for Maximizer''s small to medium-sized business (SMB) customers, prospects and partners to discuss and share best practices on topics related to Maximizer CRM and Mobile CRM in an online environment.

Along with interactive discussion boards devoted to CRM-related topics, Maximizer CRM Central features ratings of message board posts, a feature suggestions board, linking to other contributors, an RSS Feed and a CRM Sandbox, which allows users to share customisation code and links to other CRM resources.

“As social networks and online forums have become an increasingly popular way for IT professionals and software users to share information, Maximizer Software is dedicated to helping our customers network, collaborate and help themselves through Web 2.0 communications,” said Mark Carter, Marketing Manager EMEA, Maximizer Software Ltd. “Maximizer CRM Central is an excellent networking forum for SMBs to share ideas, experiences, best practices, and provide or receive peer support.”

In addition to the launch of Maximizer CRM Central, Maximizer Software now also provides easy access to Web 2.0-powered tools within Maximizer CRM that opens the ability to make sales contacts and research prospects through social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Also supporting these initiatives, Maximizer works with Jigsaw to make it easy to search, select and import user-generated company data for free into Maximizer CRM.

For more information or to join the Maximizer CRM Central online community, visit http://www.maximizercrmcentral.com. (ANI)

Akruti City welcomes Satyam Development Centre into its IT Park in Hinjewadi-Pune

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:26:00 -0400

Akruti City Limted and DLF are glad to welcome India''s leading IT company Satyam Infotech Limited to its DLF-AKRUTI Infopark at Hinjewadi, Pune.

The completion of Block three of this massive IT Park and the arrival of Satyam into these premises is yet another milestone in the Indian IT Parks success story.

This facility is the single largest one that Satyam has in India and it will house 4,800 employees at a time. The premises were inaugurated by Uday Sankar Roy, MD and CEO, SBI Life Insurance while Virendra Agarwal, the head of Satyam''s South Asia Operations played the chief host.

The facility provided to Satyam includes five floors in addition to the ground and mezzanine floors with a total built up area of approximately 4,00,000 sq.ft. and with a floor plate of approximately 60,000 sq.ft. This will allow Satyam flexibility of layout and collocation of various departments in the same structure.

Ample parking for over 500 cars and hundreds of two wheelers is also a part of the facility. Akruti City and DLF have equipped the building with seven large passenger elevators with a capacity of 20 passengers each and two high-speed service lifts with capacity of one tonne each.

“The forward looking infrastructure and support and safety systems we have provided will help Satyam and other such leading corporates to create safe and efficient environments in which employee creativity and productivity will blossom,” said Vyomesh Shah, MD, Akruti City while commenting on the occasion.

The IT park has a SEZ (Special Economic Zone) status and is well equipped with top of the line amenities built to meet international standards. The spectacular park is designed to offer a smart and intelligent IT workspace encompassing a total of five million sq.feet across all the nine blocks in Phase I and Phase II of the buildout, and housing several other corporates such as Cognizant Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Barclays, Hindalco, Verisoft, Novalis among other marquee tenants.

The IT park is located in Hinjewadi just off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and is in close proximity to residential complexes in Pune. Conceived and designed by the renowned Hafeez Contractor, the structures are clad with premium building finishes including combination of attractive glass façades embellished with stone accents and metal panels.

The design incorporates large, efficient floor plates, wide column span and high floor-to-floor clearances for optimal space utilization and inspiring business environs.

The structure is built to Seismic Zone specifications and has the latest in fire detection and fire prevention technologies. As in their other projects, Akruti and DLF have gone a step forward to make separate provision for the physically challenged like ''handicap ramp'', toilets for the handicapped, separate walkways for pedestrian movement, etc. The entire campus has power backup facility, CCTV security surveillance, and is connected with high-bandwidth fiber optic cables. The campus has adequate facilities for cafeterias as well as walking greens and flowerbeds.

This is one of several large IT parks that Akruti is constructing. The company has constructed several IT parks in the past housing clientele such as threei Infotech, Patni Computers, TCS, BNP Paribas, among others. Currently the company is building Akruti Greentech Park in Thane, and several other high-end IT and Biotech Parks in the Mumbai, Pune, and Baroda geographies. (ANI)

Cisco Capital launches Zero Percent Progress Payments Program

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:40:00 -0400

Cisco Capitalsm, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco, today announced the launch of its Zero Percent Progress Payments Program for the Cisco® Unified Communications system in the Asia Pacific region.

Designed to improve the affordability of unified communications solutions for Cisco partners and customers, the program is available until July 25, 2009.

Under the financing program, customers can defer payments for up to 120 days, without interest, during their Cisco Unified Communications system deployment, and channel partners receive progress payments from Cisco Capital when installation milestones are reached.

The financing program is designed to help customers when they are required to make deposits prior to full deployment of unified communications projects, and to help Cisco channel partners manage their cash flow on projects with long implementation times.

"The unified communications market is experiencing tremendous growth in Asia Pacific as organizations have begun to understand the flexibility and power of the technology. In addition to the host of collaboration-solution enhancements that Cisco announced today, we have also taken this step to make it easier for partners to deploy, and for customers to acquire, Cisco Unified Communications solutions," said Benny Lee, Cisco''s managing director of Unified Communications in Asia Pacific.

"Cisco Capital recognizes that Cisco Unified Communications deployments can have cash flow impacts for both partners and customers when upfront payments, or multiple payments, are required to be made to Cisco during implementation," said Rajiv Menon, director of Cisco Capital in Asia Pacific. "With this program, both partners and customers are able to better manage expectations based on a structured deployment and payment schedule. The Zero Percent Progress Payments Program has been available in the United States and Canada for more than two years and is one of Cisco Capital''s most successful channel partner enablement tools."

Cisco channel partners must hold a Cisco Unified Communications Specialization to qualify for this program. The minimum transaction size is 50,000 dollar. This program is not available in Vietnam, Indonesia or the Philippines. (ANI)

Civil nuclear deal strongly in India''s interest: Indra Nooyi

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:49:00 -0400

Chief executive of US based beverage giant PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi on Wednesday hailed the India-US nuclear deal calling it strongly in country''s interests.

A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday voted to approve the U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 19-2 in favor of the deal, which would end the three-decade ban on U.S. nuclear trade with India and is seen by the White House as the cornerstone of a new strategic partnership with New Delhi.

Indian born chief of the soft drink giant said the deal would be extremely beneficial for country''s economic prosperity.

“India''s energy also can be clearly met by nuclear power. On civil nuclear power I really believe this is strongly in India''s interest. India''s economic prosperity depends on access to reliable electric supply. In all these fields United States can be a tremendous partner to India. Of the 400 nuclear reactors around the world, 104 are located in United States,” said Nooyi.

PepsiCo entered India in 1989 and has invested more than 700 million dollar in the country so far and expects its revenue from the country to triple in next five years.

Indian American Indra Nooyi has been ranked as the world''s third most powerful woman by Forbes in its 2008 list of the top 100 business women of the world. (ANI)

Cleartrip launches online train bookings in partnership with IRCTC

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:49:00 -0400

Cleartrip, in partnership with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), announced the launch of online train bookings today.

With over 17 million passengers travelling daily by train, Cleartrip becomes India''s first online travel agency to tap this burgeoning market by enabling customers to book their train tickets online.

Cleartrip launched a search-only service in February this year and has steadily improved the offering based on feedback from thousands of users the search results from 3000 scaled up to 15000 in six months.

As customer feedback poured in, Cleartrip added maps for stations and train routes, dateless searches to enable checking of railway schedules, connecting journeys where no direct train is available between stations.

Registered users can even save their train searches, letting them conduct their regular searches again without having to re-enter information.

Cleartrip has created the easiest and fastest method for customers to purchase railway tickets online. Instead of having to check aspects of the booking separately, a single search provides users with train fares, schedules and availability simultaneously.

Cleartrip lets users select the stations most convenient to them by offering multiple stations from a city instead of forcing users to specify a station and also allows the comparison of fares from multiple stations.

In addition, users can instantly review fares from multiple classes such as AC two-Tier and AC three-Tier, letting them upgrade to a higher class of travel if they choose. Detailed information is provided for each train including arrival and departure times, number of stops and the train''s route with all stops.

In addition, a wide variety of payment options are supported, including credit cards, debit cards and net-banking, so virtually anyone can use this medium. All railway bookings made on Cleartrip are permanently stored in each user''s account, Users can also cancel their bookings online at any time.

“Cleartrip has always been very focused on making travel simple and with that mission we have designed the rail booking engine. The amount of data on railways is vast and we wanted a system that kept things simple, while delivering search results in under a second, and we''ve reinvented the wheel to create that system,” said Hrush Bhatt, founder and Director, Product and Strategy.

The government-owned Indian Railways boasts one of the largest and most trafficked railroad networks in the world-over 18,000 trains operate daily, plying across over 60,000 kilometres of railroad tracks and over 6,800 railway stations.

“The sheer size and scale of the Indian Railways, made offering online railway bookings a high priority for Cleartrip,” said Stuart Crighton, Cleartrip''s founder and CEO.

“Developing a unique train product has been a priority and we are very excited to launch India''s fastest and easiest way to book Indian Railways trains online.” (ANI)