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Sunday, 21 February 2010

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US Army selects IFS applications

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, said that the U.S. Army has selected IFS Applications as the manufacturing and maintenance software for use in its Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) at all the Army's arsenals, depots, and ammunition plants.

The basic purchasing agreement (BPA) between Army Materiel Command (AMC) and IFS North America outlines plans and options to purchase IFS Applications components and services over five years, totalling U.S. $9.9 million.

AMC manages, through its subordinate commands, a maintenance and production enterprise that easily equates to a Fortune 100 industrial organisation with a diverse assortment of functions that is seldom, if ever, duplicated in the commercial sector by a single company.

This means that agility and suitability for a broad array of manufacturing and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activities was a key factor in the Army's selection of IFS Applications.

IFS Applications will bring efficiency to ongoing refurbishment of assets such as ground vehicles, missile and radar support systems, engines, transmissions, and fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft used in ongoing military operations.

IFS delivers its best-in-class MRO and manufacturing functionality to the U.S. Army, which certainly operates an extensive and very demanding depot repair environment," IFS North America President and CEO Cindy Jaudon said.

"Given the demands placed on the military, there is a recognised need to do more with less, and we know IFS Applications to be the ideal tool to get the most out of repair depots, maintenance inventories and associated fabrication operations. We feel that this enhanced ability to efficiently move assets through the reset and recapitalisation process and redeploy them will serve as a force multiplier for the US Army in support of the War Fighter.

The US Army plans to begin rollout of IFS Applications at the Corpus Christi Army Depot, followed by Rock Island Arsenal and the Joint Technology and Manufacturing Center at Watervliet Arsenal. Additional depots included in the project are Anniston, Red River, Tobyhanna, Letterkenny and Sierra.

Thereafter, IFS Applications is slated for implementation at army ammunition plants in 2014.

Aerospace and defence is one of IFS' targeted market segments.

IFS Applications includes advanced standard functionality that meets the demanding requirements of the armed forces. IFS' fully integrated MRO, performance-based logistics (PBL), project management, fleet management, supply chain management, and other IFS Applications components help to ensure asset visibility, sustainment, and availability 'three key objectives in managing weapons systems for optimal combat readiness.

IFS also provides an industry-specific solution for defence manufacturers that helps companies manage the design, manufacturing, and ongoing spare parts logistics and maintenance support of complex products throughout the product lifecycle.


BSA to create awareness on perils of software piracy in corporate sector

Business Software Alliance (BSA) hardware partners has been actively involved in creating awareness on intellectual property rights (IPR) and software piracy in Sri Lanka.

The main objective of BSA Sri Lanka is to create an environment where intellectual property rights are respected, valued and protected to encourage local software entrepreneurs to develop innovative products that make businesses operate more efficiently and build an environment in which investors can place trust.

Growing the IT industry within Sri Lanka requires effective and reliable IP protection, if the growth anticipated by many is to become a reality.

BSA SL aims to realise these objectives through strong partnerships with the Government, the enforcement sector and the corporate sector.

BSA represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and its programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce.

One of the key issues that needs to be addressed to in the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the software industry is corporate end-user software piracy, which occurs when a company utilizes unlicensed software or does not acquire sufficient licenses (under-licensing) and so installs more copies than it is entitled to under the Software Licence Agreement, said Shalini Ratwatte-Consultant Sri Lanka Committee, BSA. "This type of software piracy is the main culprit among the other types in which software piracy takes place, she said.

The Intellectual Property Act of 2003 is very comprehensive and the violation of the Act is a crime.

As per The Computer Crimes Act which was brought into operation recently new offences have been created, having the effect of enhancing the penalties for those violating Intellectual Property in Software.

These laws are further supported by the new Companies Act of 2007 wherein Directors of a company are entrusted with a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the company in keeping with the Articles of the company and the laws of the country.

Enforcement measures have further been strengthened by the establishment of the Commercial High Court, which has the jurisdiction to hear and determine intellectual property infringement cases.

'Like with burglary or any other crime, piracy involves large sums of money with very well organised networks behind it.

Software piracy is not a victimless crime and has many different faces.

The law must be adhered to just like any other crime and the police will use enforcement measures on a regular basis to tackle this problem, said M K D Wijaya Amarasinghe - Director, Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Sri Lanka Police.

Corporate end user raids commenced against companies using unlicensed software in their businesses early last year.

Upon the inspection and identification of suspected pirated software, it was evident that seventy (70) of their computers were installed with suspected pirated business software valued at approximately Rs 7,000,000/-.

The Police seized 20 computers which were taken into police custody for further inspection and analysis.

Among its activities in 2009, BSA in cooperation with the Judges Institute, Sri Lanka Customs and the Attorney General's Department in partnership with the National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO), the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), The US Embassy in Sri Lanka and the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka (AMCHAM), organised a series of successful capacity building programs for Magistrates of the Western and Southern Provinces, Customs Officers and Law Officers of the State in an effort to provide sustainable awareness and education on Intellectual Property Law to the enforcement sector.

We will be concluding the final phase of the islandwide IPR Law and Industry Perspectives capacity building program for Magistrates in March this year.

Intellectual property is not only the concern of a few multinational companies, it is also a vital necessity for Sri Lanka's economic and social progress.

The country's intellectual property system helps stimulate scientific and technological advancement, cultural prosperity and economic development.

Our aim is to provide a forum to discuss the emerging trends in Intellectual Property Law and more importantly, to create an opportunity for the industries to discuss the issues faced by them due to the urgent need for IPR protection and enforcement in Sri Lanka, said Chullante Jayasuriya, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce.

In 2010, BSA plans to continue with its capacity building and awareness programs for the public sector.

The BSA will carry out enforcement actions on behalf of its members for IPR infringements in the Corporate Sector.

BSA does not, as a worldwide policy, take to task the public.


NoTouch Elite 2800

Shafraz Hamzadeen and Ashish Kapahi at the NoTouch launch

eSys Technologies one of the leading computer hardware distributors, in Sri Lanka and a subsidiary of EZY Holdings, introduced Universal Tech's latest NoTouch Elite 2800 External Storage and MyXerver MX3600 Network Storage devices to Sri Lanka.

The storage capacities of these devices are up to 2000 GB (2TB).

The Universal Tech is one of Asia's leading brands for external storage devices and offers the most affordable storage solutions with continuous data protection for both homes as well as business users. Speaking at the launch, CEO EZY Holdings, Shafraz Hamzadeen said "these storage devices will utilise the WD Caviar Green and Samsung's EcoGreen F2EG hard drives which deliver reduced power consumption and are geared towards being more environmental friendly.

WD's Caviar Green hard drive comes with the GreenPower technology, which yields power savings of 4-5 watts over standard desktop drives, while maintaining solid performance.


ICTA brings ICT to distant villages

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) in collaboration with the Industrial Services Bureau has launched a project for taking the dividends of ICT to the small scale businesses in remote villages.The project centred around Kurunegala, Dambulla and Tambuttegama introduces two key training modules for managing a successful business - computer-based accounting and computer-based business education.

The main task carried out in computer-based accounting is to enable computerisation of business accounting activities by introducing a computer software.The programe provides for installation of the software, providing training in the proper use of the software and offers post-installation services.

The only prerequisite to avail oneself of the benefits of this project is that he/she possesses a computer. The project is currently in place targeting 30 beneficiaries.

The computer-based business education programe aims at making even the small businessman inculcate the habit of using ICT as a continuous educational tool. As a first phase of this, conducting a computer-based course covering business accounting, taxes and business communication has commenced.


IT to drive Union Assurance forward

As Union Assurance (UA) reposition itself to a platform of Trust, the company firmly believes that Information Technology (IT) has a significant role to play in delivering its brand promise.

UA will drive the promise of Trust based on three key pillars of Transparency, Convenience and being Respectful.

Chandana Jayasooriya, General Manager IT - Union Assurance PLC

Living the brand will be the challenge, but we are confident that our technological enhancements will make it achievable, said General Manager - IT at UA Chandana Jayasooriya.

Jayasooriya believes that change creates the best opportunities, made at the right time. He said that 'at a time our country is stepping into a new era, hopeful of better times ahead, we believe that this is the best time to initiate change for a new brand preposition." Jayasooriya said, we have always been a company driven by technological innovations and probably the benchmark in the industry. IT has been the backbone of UA from its inception.

Even the very first insurance policy was generated from a fully-fledged IT system, way back in 1987.

Since then, we have been continuously in line with the technological advancements to empower the business.

Explaining how IT at UA promotes transparency and convenience, Jayasooriya said that UA will be steadfast in reinforcing the changes through IT. Our unique approach to insurance business involves the use of common technologies such as email, internet, mobile phone, SMS and mobile computers in an innovative manner, which enables a customer to obtain insurance services with much convenience.

UA's IT infrastructure has improved to an extent that the state-of-the-art technologies such as video conferencing has been a day-to-day activity, which provides convenience and transparency to its business dealings. We're making insurance simpler, faster and easier.

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