Technology

Aepona, ideal place for Java Developers - Declan McMohan

by Gamini WARUSHAMANA

"No job is too big or too difficult to our software developers and we have created a team with fantastic attitudes" said Vice President (Global Services) of Belfast based software company Aepona international, Declan McMohan.

MCMohan and Aepona's General Manager Kolitha Ratwatte spoke on company's growth, its expansion in Sri Lanka and new technological initiatives in an exclusive interview with Sunday Observer.

After the acquisition of Valista, last year we spent for integrating two businesses and combining two technologies and it was a busy year. We were going back to our customer bases and working on new projects and initiatives.

Last year we doubled our Sri Lankan operations with the number of persons working in Sri Lankan base increasing from 38 to 78.Aepona has 220 employees, 80 in Belfast, around 80 in Sri Lanka and the rest distributed worldwide.

Sri Lanka is our main R&D centre outside Belfast. We develop our solutions in Java and J2EE languages. Aepona is one of the best places for people who wish to develop their career as Java developers.

They can experience the methodology we use. Our developers get international exposure as we deploy them on international assignments. At present several groups are engaged in overseas assignments and we want to send more people for overseas assignments.

Aepona recruits university graduates and provides training opportunities for university interns. Aepona is working closely with universities and it is the main sources of our talent pool. We recruit graduates from Moratuwa and Colombo universities and a new collaboration will start with the University of Peradeniya. We will start a centre in the university and it will be used as a talent pool.

Comparative advantage

Aepona has managed to create a great team here with a great culture and great experts. It is a team with fantastic attitudes. No job is too big or too hard for them to take on. That is something critical in the success of a business. It is the strength of the team in place here.

Cost factor

The cost differentiates from Sri Lanka to Ireland. Now it is less differentiated compared to 3-4 years ago and the gap is narrowing.

Technology

On the technology perspective, we are working with GSM Association on a new initiative called OneAPI. OneAPI is a GSMA initiative that will dramatically broaden the number and variety of mobile services available to end-users. Set to revolutionise mobile service creation, OneAPI will drive innovation by making it significantly easier and faster for developers to build applications that combine the best of the Internet with the best of mobile telephony.

This will be achieved by providing a universally agreed set of cross-industry network APIs for operators, enabling them to expose valuable network information and capabilities to third party developers to build Telco 2.0 services and charge for the services through the operator.

The GSMA chose Aepona to provide the technology for the OneAPI initiative because of our proven expertise in successful application integration between operators and developers. Using Aepona's Universal Service Platform, operators can open up their networks to independent developers while protecting the core network infrastructure.

Operators already involved in OneAPI include Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica, T-Mobile, Telstra, 3, Telenor, Telecom Italia, Swisscom, TELUS, Rogers and Smart Communications. We are working with the GSMA on a trial basis and we provide this service in Canada on a trial basis as well. This whole exercise is something like evolution of standardising of interfaces within mobile operators.

Business prospects

The Company is in good shape and in 2009, our revenue grew by 50%. We expect a similarly profit in 2010.

In May we announced a US$ 10 million investment round from BlackBerry Partners Fund. It gives you an international perspective on the prospects of our company. We are very excited about the prospects of the company as we continue our operations in Sri Lanka. We have expanded our infrastructure and office space here. The main reason for seeking new investment is because we want to strengthen our customer base to build our sales teams especially in North America and Europe.

Aepona, provides the software engine that powers the Network as a Service (NaaS) business model for mobile operators. With Aepona's solutions, a mobile operator can monitor important assets and functionality within its network - such as billing, location, messaging and voice communications - to open up new revenue opportunities.

It can expose and share these assets as Web Service APIs, for third-party application developers, enterprises and media companies to incorporate into new and existing mobile-enabled applications.

Launch of WSO2 Stratos

WSO2 announced the debut of WSO2 Stratos, the first 100% open source cloud platform for enterprise applications. WSO2 Stratos offers organisations a fully hosted application platform as a service.

Using WSO2 Stratos, IT professionals can build and deploy applications and services with instant provisioning of enterprise servers, including the portal, Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), and application server. WSO2 Stratos is built on top of and extends WSO2 Carbon - the award-winning, OSGi-compliant middleware.

With this announcement, WSO2 enters the emerging market for enterprise PaaS. WSO2 Stratos provides IT organizations with three key benefits: Productivity, cost reduction and control.

As WSO2 Stratos is based on the open source WSO2 Carbon, applications can be migrated on premise, to a private cloud or to the public cloud. Not only does this provide unprecedented deployment flexibility, but for the first time, enterprises can smoothly and safely migrate to the cloud without the complexity or fear of vendor lock-in.

WSO2 Stratos goes far beyond basic application frameworks to provide an enterprise cloud platform, which manages and deploys key services based on WSO2's production-quality run time engines including:

* ESB (based on WSO2 Enterprise Service Bus)

* Portals (based on WSO2 Gadget Server)

* Web applications and services (based on WSO2 Web Services Application Server)

* Identity management (based on WSO2 Identity Server)

* Governance and registry (based on WSO2 Governance Registry)

"At a time when IT developers can create a new application in one month, taking months to provision and deploy servers and systems no longer makes strategic or economic sense," said WSO2 founder and CEO Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana. "WSO2 Stratos provides a complete middleware platform for delivering robust applications on private clouds, as well as migrating between and integrating with public clouds and on-premise systems and there's never cloud lock-in."

WSO2 Stratos Cloud-Native Platform, through its integration layer, installs onto any existing cloud infrastructure such as Eucalyptus, Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud and VMware ESX, to name a few. Enterprises are never locked into a specific infrastructure provider or platform.

Once WSO2 Stratos is installed, users get a Web-based management portal where they can configure, manage and govern independent but consistent servers for each department, or for each stage of a system's lifecycle.

Each server is completely virtual, scaling up automatically to handle the required load, and metered and billed according to use.

PBSS opens branch in Jaffna

The first branch of Perfect Business Solution Services (PBSS) (Pvt) Ltd. business partner for Sage Software in Sri Lanka was opened by its Managing Director Madura Gamanayake at Small Bazaar Road, Main Street, Jaffna recently.

Gamanayake said that opening the branch is their first step forward together with the entrepreneurs of the North. The branch will provide new opportunities for young graduates who would like to pursue careers as financial system consultants and software engineers. PBSS has taken a policy decision to recruit staff from the Northern Province for the Jaffna Branch. He said that PBSS is ready to provide Sage business solutions for all types of commercial ventures to achieve success.

PBSS is a gold certified business partner and certified consultants for Sage Software for Sri Lanka, Maldives, Saudi Arabia and USA.

Sage is the world leading business software solution provider with over 6.1 million clients worldwide. PBSS commands strong market leadership in Sage Software solutions in terms of the expertise and strength of providing right solutions and uninterrupted and timely support service.

PBSS represents Sage Accounting and Inventory Systems, Point of Sales System, Human Resources Information Systems, ERP Solutions, School/Hospital/Restaurant Management Systems and Fiesta Hotel Management System.

LG's innovative home appliances

Since producing Korea's first radios, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners in 1960, LG Electronics has today become a global giant in manufacturing innovative home appliances and electronic entertainment systems, with factories in Asian and European countries,

LG developed and introduced the world's first CDMA digital mobile handsets and IC set for DTV in 1997, 60-inch Plasma TV in 1998, internet refrigerator in 2000, internet washing machine, air conditioner, and microwave oven in 2002. 55" all-in-one LCD TV and 71 Plasma TV and satellite- and terrestrial-DMB handsets in 2005, and became a supplier of mobile handsets worldwide.

The same year LG developed the world's first 3G UMTS DMB handset, 3G-based DVB-hand media FLO DMB phone with time-shift function and DMB notebook computer.

In 2006 LG Chocolate, the first model in LG's Black Label series of premium handsets sold 7.5 million units. LG also produced the first single-scan 60" HD PDP module and 100-inch LCD TV. In 2007 LG launched the industry's first dual-format, high-definition disc player and drive and also 120Hz full HD LCD TV. In 2007 LG demonstrated the world's first MIMO 4G-Enabled technologies with 3G LTE and won the contract for GSMA's 3G campaign.

Amongst LG recent achievements are inverter technology in air conditioners and refrigerators, low watt air conditioners, the world's first door cooling refrigerator using green Ion technology, SteamTromm washing machine - using steam technology for a softer cleaner wash and SolarDom - the future microwave oven.

LGs latest "Health Plus" campaign slogan "Caring for your health in every way" symbolises its involvement in every aspect of home living.

PC House in BPO initiative

PC House is establishing in the BPO sector what it has established in the hardware and software markets - that quality and effectiveness are a company trademark.

The largest local company to take over handling the scanning imaging, indexing and data entry of vital certificates from around the island, PC House has taken Business Process Outsourcing to a new level. With investments in technology upgrades, in skills development and employing over a hundred employees to date, the archiving of these thus far only physical documents is proving a manageable task.

Speaking on PC House's advent into Business Process Outsourcing, Chairman of PC House S. H. M. Rishan, said. "With more and more companies outsourcing services and business aspects, this industry is growing at a phenomenal rate. We have already established that our service standards are above par and believe that we can extend these services to our BPO clients as well. For the moment, we have invested heavily in infrastructure development and employment and are looking at further employment and training programmes for future growth.

Sri Lanka possesses one of the most diverse and vast skill pools in the region and we believe that Business Process Outsourcing is definitely the way forward."

With future plans of expanding into Human Resource and Accounting outsourcing and into various other areas of BPO work, PC House will soon have the expertise in the local and international arena to bring the whole of Sri Lanka onto a technology platform on par with the rest of the world. Investments in the latest technology as well as training programs to ensure the highest quality standards are adhered to at all times, PC House is looking to the future of development.

Speaking on the standards adhered to in the PBO endeavour Director Operations, PC House Thariq Sanoon, emphasised the strict quality standards that would be adhered to. "We have set up a very high benchmark for the quality of our products and we have very stringent steps in place to ensure that we uphold the high standards PC House is known for. Through this initiation, we will provide citizens with an easier alternative to accessing important documents with greater ease. We are also looking at investing in employment and expansion in the North and East of Sri Lanka, with the view of taking our service teams islandwide, helping those areas develop on par with the advancements throughout the island."

HP partners Metropolitan

Helwett Packard (HP) has partnered with Metropolitan to provide greater access to the range of HP consumables for customer's of HP printers. The complete range of HP consumables, ink cartridges and toners can be purchased at all Metropolitan outlets.

Consumers are issued a warranty for the items purchase. The branch network from Jaffna to Hambantota will help HP users to access necessary consumables through the Metropolitan network.

"HP is one of the world's largest technology companies. The collaboration with Metropolitan will help create the perfect synergy to promote business in Sri Lanka," said Manager, Country Business Manager Imaging and Printing Group for Sri Lanka and Maldives Shamal de Silva.

Consumers unknowingly pay high prices for duplicate HP consumables which lowers the lifespan and the efficiency of the equipment. Consumers now can be assured that when they purchase HP consumables from Metropolitan they are originals.

The partnership ensures that customer satisfaction will be guaranteed. With so many brands and qualified professionals under one roof, the customer's time will not be wasted.

Original HP consumables give Sri Lankan end users the opportunity to make optimum use of their HP printers and deliver perfect results 100 per cent of the time.

Original HP ink cartridges can print 65 per cent more pages than cheap refilled inks.

Google brings turn-by-turn navigation service for more countries

Google Inc. last week announced that its Maps Navigation service is now available in 11 more countries in addition to the United States and Britain.

Starting from Wednesday, users in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland can get turn-by-turn voice navigation guidance if they have devices running on 1.6 or higher version of Google's Android operating system, Michael Siliski, a Google product manager, said in a post on the company's blog.

Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation system that provides voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.

Google first launched the Maps Navigation service in October last year and it was initially available in the U.S. and Britain.

The Internet company on Wednesday also opened a mobile voice search service to French, German, Italian and Spanish speakers.

The service, called Google Search by voice, allows users to speak their search queries instead of typing and previously only supports English, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.

"Voice has always been the most natural way to interact with a phone - speaking is typically faster and easier than typing," Amir Mane, another Google product manager, wrote in a blog post.

"Our goal is to bring Google Search by voice to speakers of all languages," Mane said.

Courtesy Xinhua