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In connection with the MIT Business Acceleration Program for year 2008, G&W is doing a profiling of the finalists. After doing a couple of reviews, it’s time to look at the performance of Cybersoft North America. Cybersoft emerged as a leading IT company back in 1996 and has progressed ever since.

The company, with headquarters in the U.S and an offshore branch in Pakistan, is specialized in IT solutions and software development. Being a Microsoft partner, it provides software applications designed specifically for business environments such as accounts management applications, debt collection system and finance record applications. Also they have designed softwares to help law firms manage their lawsuits and legal proceeding records.

Cybersoft has also established its market in the software development industry for telecommunication softwares, manufacturing control and management wireless communication software solutions. Web site development and designing, using a number of contemporary tools, is another task they perform. However, the company’s own website is a drag and highly unattractive thus it is bound to give a negative impression of the company. The user is also not provided the necessary information on the portal and needs to contact the company personally for information that should have been available right on the website.

The company has seen its highs and lows but its continuing with a steady approach. To make things better, Business Acceleration Program will prove to be useful and would take the company to the next level, that is if it gets selected for the program.

Microsoft has finally decided to launch a free consumer security offering focused on core anti-malware protection. The software giant will start offering the application in the second half of year 2009.

Code-named “Morro,” the streamlined solution will provide protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans. Morro will be architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it a better deal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs, said the company release.

This is a good move as the company currently charges customers if they are looking for a complete security makeover. Given the immense growth of spywares, trojans and other ‘ills’, this is indeed a welcome addition. But, what about the competition? If MS is eyeing the internet security market then it will face a stiff competition. Let’s see where it all leads to.

The first time I saw oDesk I was pretty excited. I liked their system pretty much at first glance. I thought, "ah ! now here’s something that can serve us better !" … you put in work hours and you’d get paid for it for sure, no chance of being stiffed. However, surprisingly, my experience was quite different. I wouldn’t put the blame on oDesk entirely, but about 90% would be justified. Its Just that their system is not friendly for the more creative. Don’t get me wrong here, but let me layout my specific experience briefly in points

Check out the rest on his blog

Alisa Miller has compiled a "Top 50 HR Blogs" list on her site and has been kind enough to include us in that list under the "Blogs for HR Professionals" category.

Go check out the list for many other interesting blogs covering the HR industry.

Orascom Telecom has posted a nine months net profit of $345.3 million, or 37 cents per share, down from $1.3 billion or $1.56 per share in the year-ago period. Mobilink was one of the major losers as it earned $378.9 million in consolidated EBITDA, a loss of 5% from $398.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

As for the third quarter, net income was$90.4 million, down from approximately $116 million for the same quarter of last year.

Mobilink’s consolidated revenues, however, averaged around $934.6 million, an increase from $921.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Average revenue per user (ARPU) declined to $2.8 for the third quarter from $3.5 for the same period last year. The company spent $406 million for the first nine months of 2008, up from $353 million in the same period of last year. Similarly, the company’s market share dropped to 34.8%, it was 36.4% last year.

Mobilink is certainly feeling the heat of the telecom slowdown and fierce competition. The subscription growth rate is also quite minimal - less than 3 million users joined the network in a 12-months period with current subscription standing at 31.4 million while thousands also opted out, thanks to number portability.

The company, though trying to lure customers with different schemes and packages, has failed to expand its customers base. As the recent telecom data suggests, Zong and Telenor are leading in terms of new subscriptions with Ufone trailing behind. Mobilink is simply out of the picture.

If the company fails to embark on an aggressive campaign of ‘retaining’ the customers, it’ll be unable to lure some new ones as well. Come up with some new strategies, Mobilink guys - before it’s too late.

Intel has finally launched its fastest processor ever, Intel® Core™ i7. First member of a new family of processors - Nehalem - Core i7 accelerates video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.

The Intel® Core™ i7 processor holds a new world record of 117 for the SPECint_base_rate2006 benchmark test that measures the performance of a processor. This is the first time ever for any single processor to exceed a score of 100 points, the company release said.

Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new “power gate” transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost technology of the processor automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption. Sleep mode has also been introduced for the desktop version.

With a double memory bandwidth than previous platforms, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance. Core i7 also offers a better performance for immersive 3-D games.

All eyes are now on AMD to come up with a more better solution.

This isnt something you see everyday - here’s an entirely new way of interacting with computers, demostrated by Oblong Industries.

To be honest, multi-touch didnt create a wow moment for me from the TED talk that introduced it… maybe I’ve had a hard time really understanding how that could create dramatically new applications…. applications that are well beyond simply letting people use existing applications in slightly easier ways (hello pinching photos) and are infact can offer dramatically new breed of software-based computing.

Oblong’s technology does give me that feeling. Some people might notice that its a near direct port from the movie "Minority Report" and in fact one of the Science Advisors from the film worked Oblong to create this platform.

However, the impact that technology like this could have reaches far beyond the aesthetics shown in the film - in the demo below they show some examples in video compositing, wave analysis and geographic analysis. One gesture that I really find interesting is the "pull back towards you in space" which is used here for zooming out.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

What type of applications do you think would be a great use this tech?

This review was long overdue. Zameen is a property portal with a professional and catchy outlook. It is a site that provides services in real estate, property trade and consultancy. If you’re looking for selling, renting, or buying property in Pakistan then you can browse the catalog provided by the site for 48 cities in Pakistan and find your deal. It offers wide range of Pakistani property listings though to search for property, you need to be a member of this site which is easy since registration is free and simple.

Key sections are plots, commercial, rentals, wanted, agents and development where you can search or browse through the featured offers. Hot developments are featured in home page where as featured homes are showcased in the bottom of the main page as well. One can find the complete description of home, its area (given in both Sqr.ft./ Marla) price and contact information. To sell or rent the property, one needs to fill in the information like area, price, images and location and submit it to Zameen.com. The slight drawback here is that they have not mentioned whether there is a price tag for this service or not and if there is then how much they will charge.

This site provides information on home finance as well, all you need to do is fill in the contact form and send it to them. Their news section is updated regularly and provides information on both Pakistani and international properties and upcoming housing projects. I would prefer it if the users of the site or members are able to comment and give their own reviews on the features and pricing of the property and usage this site provides them.

They also claim that more than 5,000 properties are added per month. The activity on the portal is significant but they have not included any tools like number of hits per profile or if a property is still for sale, among other things. As I mentioned above, the outlook is attractive but lack of details, especially about current status of a property, irks the users. They have to maintain an active database of all properties listed.

Zameen.com was put up in 2007 and immediately won an award for ‘best property portal- Pakistan’ and this year too, it has bagged the same award. While awards are certainly a thing to appreciate but the long-term business compatibility of a project plays a more crucial role. Zameen can be a success given the vast scope of business in the real estate sector if they overcome these pitfalls. They just need to implement a business solution and make it a profitable venture.

SofCom is a Karachi-based software house providing products in the area of Human Capital Management, Process Monitoring, Quality Assurance and Quality Control. The company recently made it to the final list of the MIT Business Acceleration Program for year 2008.

Spectrum and Harmony are main arteries of the company. Harmony caters to the human capital management whereas Spectrum is the technical and quality assurance arm of SofCom.

Harmony has created modules for recruitment, performance appraisal, payroll, training and development and leave management procedures. Employee self-service module is a relatively new arrangement, at least in Pakistan, which includes a detail inquiry and work-flow that reduces a lot of interaction between human resources team and the employee.

Spectrum is basically a 21 CFR Part 11 compliant software to help ensure consistent product quality. Its various modules include LIMS, Process Control, Stability, Instrument interfacing, Calibration, Lab Inventory and Customer Complaint Tracking. LIMS module monitors the critical quality attributes in a manufacturing environment while in compliance with the local SOPs. The solution has been adopted by a number of companies like Pfizer, Siemens, GSK and Haleeb foods. Same is the case with Process, Calibration and Lab inventory modules. Banking sector, especially the multinational ones like Standard Chartered and RBS, have also implemented some of these modules.

While the company has been in business since 1992, it’s still not well known even in the IT cadres. They are not well known becaus they haven’t made any inroads into the Pakistani tech scene as a whole like helping other companies in setting up their ventures. At least they can venture out in the field of education and technical training like their competitors are doing. If you are a 15-years old company then it’s the time that you should start making a positive footprint. What do you think?

The MIT Business Acceleration Program is a pretty intensive program that takes in companies with atleast $100k in revenues / year and aims at guiding them to go to the next level.

This guidance comes from veteran entrepreneurs and business experts from within the local environment as well as the US, and the end-goal is to help shape a laser-focused business plan for the company that can help take it forward.

Last year’s big winner was Sofizar, who was subsequently invited to present their plan and be recognized at the OPEN New England event in Cambridge, MA in Feb 2008. That event and the support given by the OPEN / MIT Enterprise Forum teams was an incredible help from what we hear, resulting in a very high valuation as well as introductions to key business partners for Sofizar to take their plans forward.

This year’s BAP Final Awards Ceremony will be held on Nov 24th, 2008 at Avari, Karachi. The finalists in the running are:

• Cogilent (BrightSpyre) Solutions (http://cogilent.com/index.php) : Provides online hiring automation solution for employers, headhunters and recruiters.
• CyberSoft (Pvt.) Ltd. (www.csnainc.com ): CyberSoft is in the business of developing and selling
  debt collection software solutions
• Kraysis (http://www.kraysis.com ) : Kraysis provides third party independent software quality assurance services.
• SofCom (http://www.sofcom.net ) : Sofcom provides products in the area of Human Capital Management, Process Monitoring, Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
• Voizar (http://www.voizar.com ) : Provides a wholesale marketplace to trade VoIP capacity.

This seems to be year Kraysis emerges out of its startup roots as and becomes a mainstream company, as it also recently won the APICTA 2008 awards and a PASHA ICT Award for 2008.

We’ll try to do a profile of some of the companies here soon. For now, good luck to the finalists.

MITCEF has extended an open invitation to people who would like to attend the event. The Judges for this year’s event are:

1. Ken Morse, MD MIT Entrepreneurship Center

2. Imaran Sayeed, Senior Vice President Global Industry & IT Solutions, Keane Inc.

3. Jamshed Khan, Vice President, Investments – Quantitative Services Group, RiverSource Investments.

4. Muddasar Malik, CEO BMA

5. Omar Hussain, President and CEO, Imprivata

6. Naeem Zamindar, Vice President & Head of Broadband Business Division, Mobilink

7. Jauher Zaidi, CEO Palmchip

8. Zafar Khan, CEO Sofizar