Biztech

ICTA confab on agriculture:

Bringing benefits to farmers

The first national conference on information and communication technology in agriculture held at the Moratuwa University IT Faculty with an exhibition recently contributed much to make the benefits of ICT reach the farmers.

The conference jointly organised by the FIT (Faculties of Information Technology) of the University of Moratuwa (UOM) and the University of Ruhuna (UOR), the Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association and the Information and Communication Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) provided an ideal platform for the move towards the five-fold objectives of the conference aimed at making farmers' life more comfortable by the use of ICT.

The chief guest ICTA's Chairman Professor P. W. Epasinghe stressed the timeliness and importance of the core message of the conference of working out ways and means for causing the benefits of ICT reach the farmers.

The conference with addresses including those by the two university vice chancellors as guests of honour, Vice Chancellor UOM, Prof. Malik Ranasinghe and Vice Chancellor UOR Prof. Susirith Mendis, Deans of Faculties, FIT, UOM, Prof. Dileeka Mendis, Faculty of Agriculture, UOR, Prof. Thakshala Serasinghe, UOM, FIT, Head Dept. of IT Prof. Asoka Karunananda and ICTA e-Society Program Head Chitranganie Mubarak endeavoured to bring together the best thinking on the subject.

The objectives of the conference were: To create awareness of the availability of IT institutions and facilities for agriculture sector; to integrate the existing agricultural services (e.g. Dept. of agriculture, faculties of agriculture, etc.) and knowledge through modern IT; to enable easy access to the information, knowledge and technology available in different institutions and organisations; to use modern IT for enabling the sharing and dissemination of agricultural experience.

EZY Infotech launches EZY Slim Top

Charumini de Silva

A new generation of desktop computers was unveiled named the EZY Slim Top to Sri Lanka by EZY Infotech on last week.

"Our pledge with EZY is to make computers simply affordable and Slim Top is just the beginning of us keeping our pledge. In fact the Slim Top is half the size of a traditional desktop and is powered by Intel technology. The unique designed casing enables more air intake and less heat generation, which results is less power being consumed when using the EZY Slim Top" said, Director Asia Pacific Operations and Chief Executive EZY Infotech - Sri Lanka, Shafraz Hamzadeen.

"We have invested US$ 2.5 billion for our manufacturing plant in Ratmalana, while creating 200 job opportunities. Initially we sold 1000 units to Pakistan and we look forward to export Slim Tops to the Asian market starting with the Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zeland and Thailand. The launch of the EZY Slim Top further underlines our commitment to the growth of the local IT industry," he said.

The EZY Slim Top provides you three different placement options to optimize the desk space. EZY's range of computers has been carefully designed to suit its target market. The tag branding strategy of EZY will make it easier to relate to EZY products.

"We will be introducing EZY Optimax and EZY Ultimate for homes and offices. EZY Hummer as the gaming series and EZY MoviBox for high end home use, in its desktop computer series. Our network of distribution and service agents already covers over 90 towns starting from the East all the way to the South," Hamzadeen said.

IFS acquires MultiPlus Solutions

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Qurius International Holding B.V. to purchase 100 percent of the shares of MultiPlus Solutions AS. The purchase price will be paid in cash. The acquisition will further strengthen IFS' market position with respect to project-based solutions (PBS) for targeted industry sectors.

MultiPlus Solutions, based in Sandefjord (Norway) and with sites in China and Denmark, is a well-established vendor of project-based business applications to the marine (shipbuilding, offshore), EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation) and project manufacturing industries. The company offers a complete ERP suite including functionality for areas such as finance, project control, maintenance, manufacturing, document management, and human resource management.

MultiPlus Solutions has an attractive customer base of almost 100 customers in Norway, Denmark, France, the U.S.A., and China. IFS intends to continue to support, maintain and enhance the product, while realizing economy of scale and synergies related to having similar industry and solution competencies.

MultiPlus Solutions Group generated net revenue of NOK 45.9 million, of which nearly 50 percent is product revenue, and EBIT amounting to NOK 2.8 million in 2008.

"With the acquisition of MultiPlus Solutions IFS can be seen to be executing on its stated strategy for growth and doing so by growing in one of its primary target sectors. The industries served by project- based solutions (PBS) is a market in which MultiPlus Solutions is a well respected supplier and where IFS seeks to achieve a market-leading position with its excellent customers and deep industry knowledge," IFS CEO Alastair Sorbie said.

IE 8 Microsoft's champion in browser wars

Microsoft is touting freshly-launched Internet Explorer 8 as its champion in the competitive Web browser arena, urging holdouts to upgrade from earlier versions of the software.

IE 8 has been catching on since its release five months ago, but Microsoft is hoping to leave behind aging IE 6 as well as much-maligned Vista after Windows 7 operating system launches in October. Despite being released nine years ago, IE 6 still claims 27.2 percent of the browser market, according to figures released in July by Net Applications.

"The reason to still be on IE 6 at this point is lack of awareness, or the 'good-enough' problem that people are satisfied with what they are using," said Amy Barzdukas, general manager of IE and consumer security at Microsoft.

"Particularly in this economy, it is difficult to be cavalier and just say update to IE 8." Schools, hospitals and other cash-strapped operations could be daunted by the cost of upgrading computer systems to new software. IE 6 also tends to be used with pirated versions of Windows XP operating system because newer software is better designed to expose illegitimate copies, according to Barzdukas.

Microsoft reports seeing more XP use in emerging economies such as Brazil and India where piracy rates are higher than in the United States.

A drawback to people sticking with IE 6 is that Microsoft's image can be maligned by software deficiencies that have been fixed in newer versions," according to Barzdukas.

"People can get frustrated with that experience and say Microsoft stinks, or IE stinks, and base that perception on technology released ten years ago," Barzdukas told AFP during a visit this week to San Francisco.

"We want them to experience the latest."

AFP