IBM to help Jet Airways Go Green

Jet Airways has can now accurately calculate, track and report aircraft emissions, thanks to IBM. The airlines can now map each carrier's carbon emissions, optimise its fuel usage by a detailed analysis of each flight. Significantly, this project is being done under the strategic 10-year business transformation agreement with the IT major to streamline and consolidate its IT operations.

A part of IBMs Integrated Emission Management System, it provides Jet Airways a process to analyse and calculate individual aircraft emissions, which is a complex process involving comparison of flight records and fuel usage data contained in multiple systems ranging from internal aircraft systems to regional navigation data and flight records. The solution ensures that all flight emissions are properly calculated, and reporting is accurate and timely.

With more than 50 years experience in aviation, IBM uses its software, hardware and services expertise to help top airlines and airports across the globe deliver more highly differentiated customer experiences and improve their operational efficiency.

"In the financial year 2011-12, domestic air traffic grew at a rate of 12.9%, creating a huge demand for fuel which accounts for a major expense for any airline. Creating an energy efficient airline is a top priority and we are committed to the environment and a greener world. With IBM's solution, Jet Airways will be able to evaluate carbon foot print not only at the fleet level but also at the aircraft level. It will help us optimise the fuel usage and thereby create a positive impact on the environment" said Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer, Jet Airways.

"In order to take advantage of the strong growth potential in the Indian aviation market, it is critical for airlines to continuously transform through business and technology innovations. With its deep technology expertise, we have has brought flexibility and scalability to the carrier's operations and also helped the airlines gain competitive advantage and strengthen its leadership position," said Ramesh Narasimhan, director - client servicing, strategic outsourcing, global technology services, IBM, India/South Asia.

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IBM to help Jet Airways go green Times of India The airlines can now map each carrier's carbon emissions, optimise its fuel usage by a detailed analysis of each flight. Significantly, this project is being done under the strategic 10-year business transformation agreement with the IT major to ... See all stories on this topic »

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Dell to deliver Ramco's ERP-as-a-service on cloud

Has Cloud Computing Come Of Age For Small Businesses ... By cloudtweaks Whether or not cloud computing has come of age for small businesses or not is a question of fact. Its answer varies from one individual to the next. However, what is eminent is the fact that, cloud computing is a force to reckon with and so are ... CloudTweaks

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OakLeaf Systems: Windows Azure and Cloud Computing Posts for 9 ... By Roger Jennings (--rj) Back in June, I walked you through the steps to define and design a cloud computing API or service. My goal was to get those who build private, public, and hybrid clouds to think a bit more around how these APIs are designed, developed, ... OakLeaf Systems Global Savvis Study Finds Culture Shift on IT Outsourcing, Cloud Computing IT News Online "IT departments are now looking to strengthen collaboration, efficiency and competitive agility – and they're turning to secure, outsourced environments and cloud computing to help meet their objectives." Savvis commissioned international research firm ... See all stories on this topic » Public, Private Cloud Markets Set to Soar as Enterprise Adoption Grows eWeek With the adoption of cloud computing continuing to occur in the enterprise, analysts see continued growth in both public and private cloud investment, with public the public cloud market set to reach nearly $100 billion by 2016. According to IDC ... See all stories on this topic » The Brute Force Computing Revolution New York Times (blog) This continues the company's move into a lower-paying, hopefully higher-volume, world of mobile devices and cloud computing. Carl Bass, the chief executive of Autodesk David Paul Morris/Bloomberg NewsCarl Bass, the chief executive of Autodesk. See all stories on this topic » New York Times (blog) Dell to deliver Ramco's ERP-as-a-service on cloud InformationWeek India Dell announced its strategic alliance with Ramco Systems to deliver Ramco's ERP-as-a-service onCloud to help midmarket businesses execute cost and operational efficiencies and accelerate revenue growth. The new offering strengthens Dell's growing ... See all stories on this topic » High performance computing, the latest 'it' thing in the cloud Network World Many cloud providers, including Amazon and Microsoft Azure, offer tiers of cloud computingresources that include a certain number of cores, virtual machines and memory. ProfitBricks instead allows users to choose as many cores and as much memory as ... See all stories on this topic » Ten drivers of Cloud computing for South African businesses IT News Africa While Cloud computing remains a rather fluffy concept for many South African business people, local businesses are increasingly using Cloud-based applications – many without realising that they are “in the Cloud” at all. Andre Joubert, GM of MWEB ... See all stories on this topic » Cloud computing gives Baidu mobile edge EastDay.com BAIDU, China's largest search engine operator, is boosting its cloud computing service in an effort to maintain its dominance of the mobile Internet sector. At its annual technology innovation conference in Beijing last week, Baidu said it will start ... See all stories on this topic » Concur Announces T&E Cloud Integration with NetSuite's SuiteCloud ... Equities.com NetSuite's SuiteCloud is a comprehensive offering of cloud-based products, development tools, and services designed to help customers and commercial software developers take advantage of the significant economic benefits of cloud computing. SuiteCloud ... See all stories on this topic »

American Airlines to cut 1000 Jobs at Tulsa maintenance facility

American Airlines plans to eliminate nearly 1,000 jobs in Tulsa and will close its Fort Worth Base.
The airline announced plans to cut jobs at the Tulsa location several months ago. It gave details on the timing and job losses to the Transport Workers Union on Friday, and the union posted the document on its website.
According to the document , the airline plans to eliminate 993 out of 5,150 maintenance jobs in Tulsa. In 2010, the airline closed a Kansas City, Mo., maintenance facility that it acquired in the 2001 purchase of bankrupt TWA.
The cuts will take place in two rounds -- first in December 2012 and again in February 2013.
Another 1,090 jobs will be eliminated when the company shuts down four maintenance lines at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth.
American, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, plans to outsource the work done at Alliance or shift it to facilities at Tulsa International Airport and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Separately, the union for American Airlines flight attendants said 901 of its members have signed up to get payments of $40,000 apiece for quitting their jobs at the financially troubled company so far.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said briefings on the buyouts have been standing-room only.
The payments were part of a concessionary contract that flight attendants approved with the airline, which is trying to cut its work force and labor costs while it’s under bankruptcy protection. The buyouts are designed to reduce the need for layoffs at American, which wants to cut about 2,000 flight-attendant jobs.
Flight attendants with at least 15 years of service are eligible for the payments. The sign-up period ends Sept. 20.
The attendants voted last month to ratify a contract that would impose tougher productivity rules but give the attendants a 3 percent stake in parent AMR Corp. after it emerges from bankruptcy protection. A federal judge in New York is expected to approve the contract Wednesday.

Links

Document: American Airlines to cut 993 jobs at Tulsa maintenance facility kjrh.com TULSA - American Airlines plans to eliminate nearly 1,000 jobs by December and will close its Fort Worth Base. The airline announced plans to cut jobs at the Tulsa location several months ago. It gave details on the timing and job losses to the ... See all stories on this topic » kjrh.com

Bankruptcy ruling expected Wednesday for American Airlines kjrh.com According to the union, jobs could be saved if more workers take an early retirement. The judge is expected to sign the latest agreement between TWU and AmericanAirlines' Wednesday, finalizing the number of job cuts. The cuts would come in two rounds ... See all stories on this topic » kjrh.com

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Though four out of six domestic airlines were in black in the first quarter of this year, it seems it is too early to point to a sustainable recovery for aviation sector.

The ATF fuel is at a record high above Rs 70,000 per kilolitre now and Delhi Airport International Limited (DIAL) also increased Delhi airport charges by 343% from mid-May.

The fuel hike severely impacts airlines' costs as it contributes around 40 to 50% of the airlines' business .

In an interview with Business standard, Neil Mills, Chief Executive Officer of Spicejet said, “The service tax that is coming in from April of this year, increase in Delhi airport costs from the middle of this May, deterioration in exchange rate from January and particularly with the increase in fuel from June this year, it just seems to be a sort of, one blow after the next. The industry is in tough times at the moment.”

We think that we can get through this. But it will be those with the best cost base and adequate funding which will come out the other end of this, he added.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Research and Market analysis also said, “The fact that for most carriers underlying profits remained modest at best after excluding sale-and leaseback and other non-operating income - during a peak travel quarter which saw strong yield improvements - means that structural imbalances remain.”

As a result CAPA believes that significant improvements will be required in third and fourth quarter financial performance to suggest that a sustainable recovery is underway.

More so, the cost pressures will be further intensified towards the end of this year when increases in airport charges and passenger fees are announced for Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata in the third quarter.

The CAPA analysis added that the cost structure is not compensated by fare levels despite the recent increases in yields and at present Indian carriers do not have a cost base to deliver sustainable profitability.

Mills also said, “To suddenly say that the recovery of the aviation sector is there because of the reasonably strong quarter, we are jumping to a conclusion.”

Though the fares are high but loads are struggling as revealed by the DGCA data also. We are getting to a point where people can’t afford. Ultimately, we are into consumer business and the consumer has to be in a position where they can pay. If they can’t pay, then you have got beyond that point, he added

Minister directs Air India to follow flight duty timing limit Economic Times MUMBAI: In a move that will mean that Air India pilots sweat as much as their peers, the minster of civil aviation Ajit Singh has directed Air India that it must implement the guidelines laid down for other airlines by the Indian civil aviation ... See all stories on this topic »

With costs rising, skepticism over recovery of aviation sector stays Business Standard The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Research and Market analysis also said, “The fact that for most carriers underlying profits remained modest at best after excluding sale-and leaseback and other non-operating income - during a peak travel ... See all stories on this topic »

Ajit to tap Mamata on FDI in aviation Calcutta Telegraph 10: Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh is likely to discuss the vexed issue of foreign direct investment in airlines with Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during his visit to the city later this week. Mamata has steadfastly opposed the investment ... See all stories on this topic »

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UAE to attend Conference on Aviation Security Khaleej Times The UAE delegation is led by Engineer Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), who is accompanied by Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of GCAA, Capt. Aysha Al Hamili ... See all stories on this topic »

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Fund Managers are Chasing Returns, Should you Follow their Lead?

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Retail investors continue shift from equity Business Standard It is the same old story, of high redemptions and poor sales, for mutual fund equity schemes. The reality this time is the most sombre so far in the current financial year. In August, the net outflow from equity schemes (including equity-linked saving ... See all stories on this topic »

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Debt funds gain muscle as equity funds haemorrhage mydigitalfc.com Equity funds have seen their corpus bleed in the current calendar year (January to August) even as debt funds have seen their corpus grow significantly. Even the latest monthly flows data released on Tuesday by Association of Mutual Funds in India ... See all stories on this topic »

Why Suicide rates on the very rise in Hyderabad

Alarmed over the ever increasing number of suicides, NGOs and other organisations here held various events on Monday to mark World Suicide Prevention Day. Although according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the percentage of suicides in AP contributing to the national figure went from 11.8 in 2010 to 11.2 in 2011, city organisations claim that suicide rates are on the rise in the city.

In the past month, a string of shocking suicides surfaced in the city. The first case which caught the public attention was that of B Neelima, an Infosys employee whose mysterious death was finally confirmed to be a suicide case, followed by V Nehru, an IIT Kanpur student from the state who took the extreme step due to academic pressures and then Anil Kumar a techie working in the US who was found dead in a cab at Kukatpally. With many such cases reported, organisations are now swinging into action to prevent citizens especially the youth from ending their own lives.

Roshni, a voluntary body, organised a rally from Begumpet to Necklace Road on Monday followed by a candle light vigil and an oath taking ceremony there. Akheel Siddiqui, director of Roshni said, "Suicidal tendencies among the youth are rising alarmingly in cities with the most cases being in the age group of 20 to 40 years. The average number of calls we receive in a day too has gone from around 20 to 25 in the last one year and the most common causes are relationship problems, educational stress or financial reasons." Siddiqui added that the calls received increases significantly during the examination period too.

Tele-cousellors at Roshni said that they had been getting calls for cyber bullying and other reasons related to the internet and various social networking websites from city youngsters too lately. Aparna Ghosh Adhikari, manager of Makro Foundation, another organisation working in the same area said, "Around two years ago we did not get even one call related to problems due to social networking websites, but now we have started receiving such calls too. The total number of calls too is increasing consistently by at least 10 per cent every year." The foundation held a two kilometre walk from Raheja IT Park to Inorbit Mall and back on Monday in support of world suicide prevention day.

Adhikari added that they were focusing on young professionals as Neelima's case reiterated the need for counselling for young professionals. She then said that a many B E and B Tech graduates who are unable to find jobs end up calling their helpline too.

Counsellors said that another emerging cause for depression and suicidal tendencies among city youth is closet homosexuality. B Banerjee, a tele-counsellor with a city NGO said, "In the past couple of years, many youngsters have been calling us as they find it difficult to come clean with their families about their sexuality and adjust in society for fear of ridicule."

Meanwhile, officials at Ram Krishna Math, which is gearing up to celebrate Swami Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary with a rath yatra across the state too said that they would concentrate on empowering the youth of AP during the yatra in order to tackle the problem of increasing suicides in the state.

Suicide rates on the rise in Hyderabad'
Times of India
In the past month, a string of shocking suicides surfaced in the city. The first case which caught the public attention was that of B Neelima, an Infosys ...

The General Services Administration is supposed to be the leader guiding agencies’ adoption of cloud computing

The General Services Administration is supposed to be the leader guiding agencies’ adoption of cloud computing. But some agencies have gone elsewhere for cloud services.

One reason is GSA was delayed in launching a governmentwide contract for cloud email until last month. Another reason is GSA has been slow in verifying that awardees on an earlier contract have information systems that meet federal security standards.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Agriculture and Interior departments and others have contracted directly with vendors or agencies for cloud services. And they project millions of dollars in annual savings.

Agencies are under pressure from the Office of Management and Budget to identify information technology services that can be moved to the cloud. They are “responding with agency-by-agency procurements,” said David Bodenheimer, a partner with law firm Crowell & Moring’s government contracts group. “It tells us that GSA ... services are available but apparently are not fitting the agency needs either in terms of scope or availability or timing.”

In anticipation of the administration’s IT reform plan released in December 2010, then-federal chief information officer Vivek Kundra in 2009 asked GSA to create the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative Program Management Office. The GSA office was charged with speeding cloud adoption across government by identifying and addressing obstacles.

In addition, GSA was tasked with launching contract vehicles for secure cloud storage, web hosting and other IT infrastructure services in the cloud. GSA awarded a five-year, $76.5 million contract in 2010 to 12 vendors.

Seven agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, have made awards on the Infrastructure-as-a-Service blanket purchase agreement to date, said Mark Day, director of GSA’s Office of Strategic Programs. Total business across state, federal and local governments is more than $44 million, but it isn’t clear how much of that is attributed to federal agencies. Day said the current level of business is within GSA’s expectations.

“We know there is much work to be done to help government tap into [the] cloud’s true transformative potential, and GSA’s goal is to ensure that the options we put forward receive prime consideration because of the value they provide,” Day said.

Zachary Brown, chief information security officer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the bureau’s adoption of cloud services for storage, file sharing and long-term archiving predated GSA’s cloud contracts. Brown said he would consider using GSA contracts for future cloud migrations, but most of the vendors have not passed the mandatory security assessment process.

Certification delays
Only five of the dozen vendors on GSA’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) contract have received a so-called Authority to Operate, or ATO, from GSA. An ATO indicates that a vendor’s information system has appropriate safeguards for storing government data, according to GSA.

“We’re not going to do business with anyone that doesn’t have an ATO,” Brown said.

As of last week, Apptis, AT&T, Autonomic Resources, CGI Federal and Verizon Federal were the only IaaS contractors with ATOs, GSA said. An ATO is required before a vendor can start work under the GSA contract, which in this case narrows agencies’ options.

But this has been a boon for the companies that have passed GSA’s security reviews.

For CGI Federal, most of its cloud business comes through GSA’s cloud infrastructure contract as opposed to direct contracts with agencies, said James Pyon, vice president of emerging markets at CGI.

Awardees that have not received ATOs can undergo similar security assessments under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), a GSA initiative launched in June to spare agencies from duplicating assessments for the same cloud products and services.

“It would be easy to see FedRAMP as a new additional hurdle that agencies have to get through to go to cloud services, but that’s not how it should play out,” said Keren Cummins, director of federal and mid-Atlantic programs for security solutions firm nCircle, which provides some cloud-based solutions. “At the end of the day, FedRAMP should shorten the effort to get to the cloud.”

By June 2014, all cloud services and products in use at federal agencies or in an active acquisition process must meet FedRAMP requirements. Agencies can now use these standard guidelines to vet the security of their own contractors, or wait for FedRAMP reviews to be completed.

John Keese, president of Autonomic Resources, which was awarded spots on both GSA cloud contracts, questioned whether current awardees would make it through FedRAMP, considering they’ve failed to meet GSA standards.

GSA also has had challenges with certifying the security of vendors it hires for GSA work, according to a July Government Accountability Office report.

One issue has been that cloud vendors must certify that any infrastructure used to support their federal cloud business meets government standards. It took GSA more than a year to certify more than 200 Google employees and thousands of servers before GSA would use Google for its internal cloud email service, GAO said.

“I don’t think most [cloud] providers understood what the security process was going to entail,” Keese said.

A GSA inspector’s general audit in June raised concerns that GSA’s cloud infrastructure contract did not provide agencies the best value, among other issues.

“While we recognize that GSA views bringing cloud solutions to the federal marketplace as a priority, this should not come at the expense of sound contracting practices,” the audit said.

The audit found, for example, a lack of collaboration between contract evaluation teams. Two vendors awarded contracts for identical work showed a 55 percent price difference. As a result, some agencies may pay different prices for identical items.

Protest delay
GSA’s $2.5 billion contract awarded to 17 vendors last month for cloud email has also had its challenges.

“There were pre-solicitation protests in late 2011 that extended the procurement timeline,” Day said. These companies will also have to undergo security assessments through FedRAMP.

The administration is expecting big business on the contract.

Last April, Kundra said the contract would help some 15 agencies that had identified 950,000 email accounts, across 100 email systems, to move to the cloud.

But during the contract delay, some agencies moved ahead with their own email contracts. The Agriculture Department, for example, expects to save $6 million annually since moving its email boxes to Microsoft’s cloud solution last year.

Day expects GSA’s contract prices will be an attractive option for agencies once their current cloud contracts expire.

Missing services
Smaller entities, such as national laboratories, are exploring options for services not available on GSA’s cloud contracts.

“GSA works much better with the large agencies,” said Rosio Alvarez, CIO at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. “When you’re smaller ... you have a lot more flexibility and agility to move faster and more independently.”

Alvarez said a handful of labs are considering joining forces to negotiate better pricing for a human resources cloud service.

Cloud computing passing many small firms, MYOB survey finds The Australian A survey commissioned by business software provider MYOB found that 79 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) did not use cloud technology, only 14 per cent said they did, while others did not know. Cloud computing allows access to a ... See all stories on this topic »

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Researchers craft program to stop cloud computing problems R & D Magazine Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new software tool to prevent performance disruptions in cloud computing systems by automatically identifying and responding to potential anomalies before they can develop into problems. See all stories on this topic »

Lost in the cloud: Agencies go elsewhere for computing needs Federal Times In anticipation of the administration's IT reform plan released in December 2010, then-federal chief information officer Vivek Kundra in 2009 asked GSA to create the Federal Cloud ComputingInitiative Program Management Office. The GSA office was ... See all stories on this topic »

Why Johnny Doesn't Understand Cloud Computing Computerworld India We insiders in the cloud computing world are often stuck explaining to friends and family members just what the cloud is. Most of us start with well-known analogies, such as popular website-delivered services. We do this understanding full well that ... See all stories on this topic »

Cloud Computing Brings Huawei And Intel Together CloudTweaks News The partnership would heighten core mutual engineering collaboration, a step that would bring to the market novel products including servers, storage platforms, data center essentials and most importantly, cloud computing solutions. The cooperation ... See all stories on this topic »

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Why Cloud Computing Is Unavoidable In The Automotive Industry CloudTweaks News It is no longer a mere premise that the prospects of integration of cloud computingare embraced by nearly all major industries, including the automobile industry. Cloud computing is bound to change this industry and the driving experience as we know ... See all stories on this topic »