TECHNOLOGY

Nokia E7 launched

by Sapumali GALAGODA

The business smart phone Nokia E7 communicator was launched last week under the theme "Success doesn't need a desk".

Nokia E7 has a four inch touch clear black display, full keyboard and a wide variety of business applications from Ovi Store.

Sales and Business Development Manager Sri Lanka Nokia EA Shiblee Shakik Ahmed, Director Softlogic Samantha Rajapakse and National Sales Manager Rajeev Gooneratne with the phone. Pic: Kavindra Perera

It supports business applications such as Microsoft and IBM as well as a wide range of entertainment and multimedia services and features.

Nokia E7 provides direct, secure and real time access to the Microsoft exchange server with mail for exchange for connection to corporate inbox, calendar, contacts, tasks and the corporate directory for corporate users.

Office communicator mobile developed by Microsoft for Nokia smart phones, brings presence and corporate instant messaging to Nokia E7.

Nokia E7 offers best mobile navigation in 80 countries, Mapping application - the latest commercial version of Ovi Maps and thousands of applications available immediately at Ovi store, via Ovi Suite, nokia.mobi or the support pages on nokia.com adds music and a rich messaging experience.

The newest beta version of Ovi Maps can be downloaded free at Nokia Beta Labs, said Sales and Business Development Manager, Sri Lanka, Nokia EA Ltd, Shiblee Shakik Ahmed.

The new arrival also offers easy access to up to 10 private email accounts from the same view, create, edit and share office documents and view PDF files with Adobe Reader, fast, secure internet access with the built in VPN, high resolution photos and HD video with the eight mega pixel camera and dual LED flash, HDMI connectivity to project files, videos and images onto large screens, 16 GB of on board flash memory and USB on the go, enabling easy file sharing by connecting a USB stick to the smart phone.

Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi including music, maps, applications, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.

TATA Communications Lanka strengthens capability with second international gateway

TATA Communications Lanka Ltd inaugurated its second international gateway in Sri Lanka at the emerging IT Park, Orion City. Strengthening its seven-year presence in the country, the new facility will further the reliability and stability of its services to both operators and enterprise customers. The second international gateway is a part of a strategy to offer cutting-edge IP-leveraged solutions enabled by the company's superior global infrastructure and leadership in emerging markets.

"In the last seven years we have grown substantially, thanks to our customers and their trust in us. We thought it fit to have greater redundancy for the existing primary POP in Taj Samudra and to provide an independent back-haul, for extending reliable and stable services," said CEO, TATA Communications Lanka V. Ravi Sankar. "This will enable our customers to offer higher uptime and better service levels to their end customers, thereby becoming more competitive in the international business environment."

Acknowledging the support of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) and Board of Investment (BOI) Shankar said that these two organisations are forward looking and helpful.

Enterprise solutions, as well as wholesale voice solutions and carrier services, which are currently routed through the primary POP, will be offered from the new gateway. Some of these services would be routed partially or completely through the new POP, if required, as a redundant measure.

With the new gateway facility operating at Orion City, resident customers operating from the IT Park will be able to receive services at a competitive price; additionally, order fulfillment will be faster. "Because we are bringing our services to the doorstep of the customer, the local charges will be less," Sankar said.

"The second POP not only strengthens stability, but also improves the reliability of the services offered to operators and enterprises, so that they receive an enhanced service experience," said Chairman, TATA Communications Lanka S.K. Gupta.

"Through a very reliable network that connects customers globally, our customers can be confident, and the country at large will benefit," he added. With the first phase of the venture under way, the total investment proposed is Rs. 70 million.

EFutures provide eCommerce solutions to me.lk

EFutures, a leading provider of software and web solutions and IT consultancy services in Sri Lanka has been providing online solutions development for Maharaja Entertainments since 2007.

Maharaja Entertainments has partnered with EFutures in providing eCommerce solutions through the popular eCommerce site me.lk. The company is a dynamic firm, which employs the best in design and development talent in Sri Lanka.

EFutures specialises in implementing enterprise web and software solutions for both local and international companies.

Maharaja Entertainments is an operating company belonging to The Capital Maharaja Organisation, one of the largest groups of private sector companies in Sri Lanka.

Maharaja Entertainments since inception in 1999 has emerged as a prestigious label and distributor of Sri Lankan music. Maharaja Entertainments' alliances with world majors in music and movies have put the company in the forefront of marketing and distributing original music and movies on both physical and digital formats in the island.

The web solution developed using latest technologies includes a vast product range and particularly song/video download capability and supplying Sri Lankan music to overseas digital stores.

The website includes sections such as company profile, artist information, online purchase and features such as search for by artists, band and song title.

The MyAccount feature allows users to create personal accounts at me.lk to maintain a profile and manage purchases.

The solution integrated with an Internet Payment Gateway allows users to make online purchases. EFutures is currently in the process of developing an Online Artiste Reservation facility allowing registered users to reserve local artistes for events.

The solution includes a web based Content Management Tool that allows the client to maintain artist information and product information.

EFutures handles offshore software projects and boasts of one of the most impressive portfolios in the software industry.

The company has become the corporate choice in outsourcing both web and software development.

EFutures places emphasis on customer satisfaction, and as such development is based on customer specifications for a software product.

EFutures' product development best practices provide enterprise clients with a singular advantage; the ability to build scalable and extendable technology solutions faster and with a much higher degree of precision.

LED technology delivers next-generation printing for SMEs

Dell launched of three new LED and laser colour printers that deliver the next evolution in colour printing technology to small and medium businesses and home offices worldwide, further enhancing the company's robust portfolio of solutions designed exclusively for growing companies.

Dell's breakthrough LED printing technology, including the world's smallest A4 small business colour laser class printer, rounds out its printer family delivering optimal performance and energy efficiency to organisations of all sizes.

No-compromise colour printing with LED printers - top buying considerations for home offices, small businesses and distributed workgroups include workspace efficiency, support resources for printer maintenance and affordability for fast and quality printing. Dell's LED A4 colour printers meets these requirements.

Greenwich launches award winning Sage ERP ACCPAC Version 6

Greenwich Lanka (Pvt.) Limited released of the Sage ERP ACCPAC Version 6, an advanced enterprise reporting and analysis software suite designed to provide accountants, executives and other corporate users with simple, fast and flexible access to all critical business data.

Greenwich is a dynamic organisation in the IT industry making rapid progress and stepping ahead capturing a significant market share in Sri Lanka.

With its progress in innovative technological adaptation and strong alliances backed by a team of professionals, Greenwich continues to steadily penetrate into the local market.

The Sage ERP ACCPAC version 6 is the latest upgrade to the award winning business management software in the Sage ERP portfolio. Fully integrated to back office business applications, ACCPAC version 6 provides advanced reporting, budgeting, consolidations, and scheduling not only from accounting systems, including general ledger, receivables, payables and other financial systems, but also from non-financial data sources throughout the enterprise.

The software has an easy-to-use Microsoft Excel based user interface and is an ideal reporting solution for companies with multiple departments and subsidiary organisations, as well as those with remote employees and multiple locations that need real-time access to company data.

Chief Executive Officer Greenwich Suran Fonseka said, "We are excited to be the first in Sri Lanka to offer the latest version of Sage ERP ACCPAC to our clients, that has been time tested in countries such as Singapore. As the authorised partner for Sage ERP ACCPAC, we have invested in provisioning dedicated consulting services to our clients in implementation and maintenance of enterprise accounting software. Sage ERP ACCPAC has helped companies to fulfill their objectives in financial reporting and ever expanding chart of accounts".

Singer rolls out web based

ERP developed by IFS

Singer rolled out the largest web based ERP ever deployed in the country and in South Asia. The ERP was developed by the IFS.

Singer which has one of the widest networks spanning over 360 branches is now working on a single system enabling all connected outlets to act as a single business unit.

Director IT Singer Ajith Paranavitane, Singer CEO Asoka Peiris, Singer Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya, Vice President IFS SA Jayantha Desilva, IFS GM Poorna Bandara and Shiraz Lye.

This allows the key users of the system to engage in strategic work rather than on the day-to-day operations which can be done at the click of a button.

Singer Group CEO Asoka Peiris said that the ERP solution implemented by IFS is greatly beneficial to manage the company's day-to-day operations as well as strategic operations.

For instance the company now has the ability to locate inventory which is in demand, within seconds.

This new milestone achieved in Sri Lanka is key to showcasing the capability and capacity of the IT industry as a whole by becoming the centre of excellence for IT systems for large-scale retail networks.

Based on the success of Singer Sri Lanka the same solution is currently being rolled out in other singer operations in Thailand, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The entire resource pool was manned by talented Sri Lankans which included a wide spectrum of resource personnel such as project managers, coordinators, consultants, software engineers, technical engineers, trainers, multiple core teams, end users as well as multiple third party vendors.

Vice President IFS South Asia Jayantha De Silva said that it is a milestone for Sri Lanka since it is considered to be the largest IT infrastructure project in the island.

"When we took over the project we were confident that we could deliver. It has been one hundred percent successfully implemented. While Singer has also benefited from this project, IFS gained much experience in working on a project of this magnitude," said De Silva.

Implementing this system has proved that Sri Lankans can do a project of this size and nature in this country. De Silva said that IFS intends on taking this experience to engage in more international projects.

Director IT Singer Ajith Paranavitane said that implementing the ERP across 360 outlets was no easy task. It was the commitment and drive of the Singer management team together with IFS consultants that brought us ultimate success of creating a real time enterprise where business was able to instantly communicate, respond and improve operations leading to greater efficiency.

The end result was creating visibility across the enterprise which allows Singer to become truly agile, he said.

IFS General Manager and Director Projects Poorna Bandara said that the project scope included end to end computerisation of the total business operation of Singer which includes the entire branch network, the Singer warehouse which is one of the busiest warehouses in the country, highly optimised inventory management and distribution, financials, the ISO certified network of service centers, state-of-the-art human resource management processes and the popular express payment system providing integration across the board.

Bringing over 1,000 ERP users spread all over the country running hundreds of different synchronised ERP processes into such a large system was a challenge which required the engagement of a large number of highly skilled IT staff from both IFS and Singer exceeding 25,000 man days. SG

MyAstro offers personalised readings on horoscopes

Taking strides as truly Sri Lankan corporates, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), and Mobitel, partnered the Presidential award winning astro maestro, Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena to offer personalised services to customers interested in astrology, numerology and auspicious times.

Amalgamating traditional beliefs with technology, SLT together with Mobitel strives to serve the requirements of the contemporary customer by enabling tradition at their fingertips, through its new 'MyAstro' offering.

The service offers custom astrological readings including Daily Personalised Astrological Forecasts, Personalised Numerological Forecasts and Generic Forecasts (Rahu period, Auspicious times, Suba Disawa (Direction)).

SLT and Mobitel customers can subscribe for the service by creating a profile for them on MyAstro portal by sending an SMS with 'MyAstro name' to 1312 via any SLT Citylink CDMA or Mobitel phone.

Upon submitting the above, the subscriber's birth date, birth time and place of birth will be requested via a voice prompt.

Subsequent to creating his profile on MyAstro, the customer would receive personalised astrological readings on a daily basis via SMS and could further opt to receive personalised numerological forecasts twice a week via SMS while a third option will provide auspicious times and Rahu time periods for all those ceremonial activities via SMS on a daily basis.

Astrologer Abeygunawardena said, "Over 95 percent of Sri Lankans engage in astrology with interest and enthusiasm.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to cater to their needs through this partnership.

MyAstro will offer a novel astrological experience to all users."

Chairman Sri Lanka Telecom Nimal Welgama said, "We believe that Abeygunawardena's reputation and credibility built over the years, together with the superiority of our group's network and coverage will help take this service to every home and every palm of our subscribers.

This is a good reflection of our group's brand personality of being traditional, nationalistic and progressive in terms of technology and service offering."