Internet and Technology

Article by Kartik Puttaiah

Before launching any product, companies conduct market research to ensure that they have a successful product.Companies may have different reasons to conduct market research, which may include:a) Analyze if there is a need for their productb) Identify a market for the productc) Study competitiond) Device a marketing plane) Come up with pricing strategyWhile, market research is an essential step, an equally important task is finding out if the product has Freedom to Operate (FTO).Now you may ask, if this has got anything to do with obtaining a licence from the government authorities. Well, this has nothing to do with that. FTO is related to finding out if your product infringes upon the patent rights of others. If it does, you may want to strategize the launch of your product based on that.So what is Freedom to Operate or FTO and why should you bother about it?

FTO in simple words is the freedom to commercialize a product/process without infringing on others patent rights. Commercialization of infringing products may lead to expensive law suits. Hence, a FTO study is an essential task to be carried out before commercializing a product.

How is a FTO analysis conducted?

It shall be noted that patent rights are territorial. For example, if someone has a patent over a specific type of “pen” in the US and not in UK, then one can commercialize that “pen” in the UK without infringing on the US patent. Hence, a FTO study for a product/process is specific to a territory and considers patents in that territory. So, if you want to find out, whether you have the freedom to operate in US, the relevant patents in US will be taken into consideration.To find out if your product is infringing on the patent rights of others in a specific country, a search has to be carried out to uncover all the relevant patents in that country. This search will consider granted patents and patent applications (not granted yet) into consideration.Now you may ask, why consider patents applications which have not yet been granted, and how can you be infringing upon such patent applications. Well to answer your question, a published patent application may be granted in future, and once a patent is granted, they will have the right to sue somebody who has infringed upon their patent rights.

Why carry out Freedom to operate search and what other advantages can you gain from it.

Freedom to operate search should be preferably carried out at an early stages of product development, so that you do not incur huge development costs in developing potentially infringing products and are not entangled in a legal battle later, on infringement charges.A Freedom to operate search helps in many ways; some of them are listed below:

Will minimize the risk of getting sued by others, for having infringed upon their patent rights.Such a search will also dig out patents, which have expired (in most countries its 20 years). There may be many useful technologies which can be used from these expired patents.

You will find a list of patents which are relevant to your product/technology and helps you craft strategies, such as:

· Purchasing patents which are relevant to your product, so that you gain freedom to operate rights in that territory· Obtaining a licence from the patent holder for a specific duration of time by working out a payment option. This will give you the right to operate without infringing on others patent rights.· If you do have a patent of your own, you can also try the approach of cross licensing of patents to gain mutual benefits.· Redesigning your product in such a way that it does not infringe upon others patent rights.· Try and invalidate the patents in question so that you gain freedom to operate in the concerned territory.In conclusion, FTO analysis is a step every technology company should take before commercializing their product to avoid expensive law suits and gain knowledge about the strategies that can be adopted to obtain FTO in their desired territory.

With the emergence and growth of instant translation on the web, language service providers are constantly asked if they are worried about the future of their industry.

Despite all of the benefits of machine translation (MT), this burgeoning technology is still far from perfect. MT only works for certain language pairs that have sufficient data, and in addition, has a hard time dealing with the complexities of languages.

MT can render sentences completely unintelligible when translated into a language that employs different sentence structures and grammar rules. Sometimes, the translated document may end up looking like a string of random words, which can only be deciphered by a human being who knows both the source and target languages.

In other words, when accuracy and quality matter, a human translator is very much needed when MT is involved.

Quite often for MT-related projects, linguists are used to clean up the translated text, although the demand for exclusively human translation still far outweighs that of MT.

Industry wide, people recognize that although MT is the best solution for a specific, small segment of translation projects, MT is still not a desirable alternative to translation by an educated, well-trained and quality-controlled human translation team.

Use of Machine Translation in the industry

Contrary to popular belief that the translation industry feels threatened by machine translation, many translation companies do offer machine translation to their clients. Certain characteristics are normally required for a document to be considered for machine translation:
Large amount of text
Short turnaround time
Informal audience
Not for publication (research purposes)
Low expectation of resulting quality and accuracy
Relatively small budget for a large amount of content

If a project meets all of the above criteria, machine translation services may be a viable solution, and the rates and turnaround times can be a fraction of the cost of human translation.

(Gigabytes of data can be completed in days, instead of weeks or months)

MT is less expensive than human translation because the results are of much lower quality. While human errors are not an issue with machine translation, style and grammar are. However, if one simply wants the gist of a document (e.g. find keywords, names…), machine translation is an acceptable option.

Few machine translation databases are as advanced as Google’s highly used translation tool, which at this point, includes 64 languages. The accurate conversion from one language to another depends on the amount of data one has to build a database of words, terms and phrases.

Use of Translation Memory in the industry

Human Translators commonly use Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools on a daily basis to help complete translation projects. CAT tools, of which Translation Memory™ is the most common, help translators build their own database of terminology.

Translation memory is a commonly misunderstood tool that has risen in popularity in the past decade, not only with translators but with translation clients. Clients often request the use of TMs to ensure consistency of terminology across multiple projects, and the use of these tools is encouraged by translation companies.

TMs are a way for translators to record past translations for future use. While this was done manually in the past in the form of glossaries and tables, programs now exist to simplify the process.

Programs such as Wordfast, MemoQ, Trados and SDLX have made it simpler to use consistent terminology through long texts and multiple translations. These CAT tools save translated words, phrases and segments into data banks, where they are accessed when the same terminology shows up in the future. A current trend is emerging, where teams of translators can access and update the same TM database simultaneously, which can be a tremendous advantage for large projects with short time frames.

As a result, translators can avoid doing hours of research on a project they worked on days — or even years — before!

Between TM, MT and CAT, the translation industry is swimming in acronyms. Understanding the benefits of these tools will not only keep translation companies competitive, but it will help them, in this technological world, to stay afloat.

Forbes’s annual list of the fastest-growing technology companies is made based on some major criteria. Firstly, these companies must have minimum sales of $ 25 million and a sales growth of at least 10% over the latest 12 months. Secondly, average earnings per share growth estimates in three to five years are in double-digit territory. Finally, they were ranked on their five-year annualized sales growth no less than 10%. 

 

First Solar

First Solar is a leading manufacturer of the thin film solar panels used to convert sunlight into electricity. It becomes the first company to own manufacturing costs below $ 1 per watt, which puts the price of solar energy in line with conventionally produced power.

First Solar was founded in 1999

 

Neutral Tandem

Chicago-based Neutral Tandem is a telecommunications company offering voice, data and video services. Its switches allow wireless, wired, cable and broadband providers to exchange traffic among their networks.

Most major wireless, cable and broadband carriers in the U.S. have done business with this firm

 

Riverbed Technology

Riverbed Technology company partly describes its role in the computer communications business with the motto “Think fast”. It can enhance the speed with which business customers can access data and applications across wide area networks (WANs) thank to its Steelhead-branded appliances and embedded Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS) software.

This firm also provide customers cloud computing for commercial enterprise and the government

 

Illumina

Developing and making equipments and software such as DNA sequencing and gene expression are major missions of Illumina. Scientists from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities or government agencies use its equipment for disease research, medicine development and the development of clinical tests

 

Cavium Networks

Integrated semiconductor products with intelligent networking, communications, storage, video and security applications supplied by Cavium Networks can be seen in a variety of networking equipment, such as routers, switches and servers

 

ViroPharma

The pharmaceutical company ViroPharma develops and provides patients medicines for diseases with few treatment options. It now offers two major products Vanocin, an antibiotic used when other antibiotics have failed, and Cinryze, a treatment for the autosomal disease Hereditary Angioedema

 

Rackspace Hosting

Rackspace Hosting not only offers Web-hosting services to businesses of all sizes worldwide but also features divisions focusing on cloud computing and e-mail & apps

 

Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com, an enterprise cloud computing company focused on business software, is famous for its customer relationship management (known as CRM) products that help businesses manage and organize their relationships with customers and clients

 

Celgene

The biopharmaceutical company Celgene emphasizes the discovery and development of therapies for cancer and immunological diseases. One of its notable products is Thalomid used in the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma

 

SolarWinds

SolarWinds has concentrated on network, applications and storage management software, which helps customers download software to maintain and monitor their IT networks

 

 

1. Shell

Website: www.shell.com.my

Industry: Oil & Gas

An excellent company to work for, Shell provides you with a platform for trainings and knowledge, while at the same time providing you with opportunity for growth while climbing the technical and corporate ladder.

2.  Intel

Website: www.intel.com, www.intel.com/jobs/Malaysia

Industry: Manufacturing

Intel is the world’s largest chip maker, also a leading manufacturing of computer, networking and communications products. Intel currently has the largest plant of all manufacturing companies in Penang & Kulim industrial area.

3. DHL

Website: www.dhl.com.my

Industry: Logistics & Freight Forwarding

DHL’s international network links more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. Around 285,000 employees are dedicated to providing fast and reliable services that exceed customers’ expectations in 120,000 destinations in all continents.

4. Petronas

Website: www.petronas.com.my

Industry: Oil & Gas

PETRONAS is an integrated international oil and gas company with business interests in 31 countries. As at end of October 2005, the PETRONAS Group comprised 101wholly-owned subsidiaries, 19 partly-owned outfits and 57 associated companies.

5. McKinsey & Co

Website: www.mckinsey.com

Industry: Consulting

As one of the world’s biggest consulting firms with offices all across the globe, McKinsey helps many of the world’s leading organizations think about and improve their strategies, organizations and operations.

 

6.  Maxis

Website: www.maxis.com.my

Industry: Communications

As one of the largest communications giants in this country, Maxis will be a preferred platform for aspiring executives to be part of in the quest to reach their career heights. There are so many opportunities available as Maxis is expected to continue growing in terms of size and profits.

7.IBM

Website: www.ibm.com/my

Industry: System/Hardware

To date, IBM has played a major role in delivering solutions to the customers to help solve business problems. IBM’s key strengths are in people, skills and experience in IT and complex projects, and worldwide infrastructure of international offices and laboratories from which they can quickly assemble the best expertise required by the customers in Malaysia and worldwide.

8. Motorola

Website: www.motorola.com/my/

Industry: Manufacturing

First established in Malaysia in Penang (1974), Motorola today is a total solutions provider for wireless telecommunications and energy products. It is the first Motorola Asia-Pacific Regional Integrated Manufacturing, R&D and Distribution Center. Capabilities include design & development of two-way radio products, world-class manufacturing and distribution to global customers.

9. ExxonMobil

Website: www.exxonmobil.com.my

Industry: Oil & Gas

A merge between Esso and Mobil produced ExxonMobil which is now the biggest oil and gas company globally, covering upstream, downstream, technology and chemical activities.

10. Hewlett Packard

Industry: Hardware/multimedia

Website: www.hp.com.my

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium businesses.

11. CIMB

Industry: Investment

Website: www.cimb.com.my

CIMB is the largest, award winning investment bank in Southeast Asia. They offer a full range of integrated capital markets and advisory solutions tailored to a diverse client base, including large corporations, financial institutions, private individuals and institutional investors. Requires talented and hardworking people, but you’ll be well compensated. Min yearly bonus average more than 6 months, depending on your performance.  In 2004 claim a record bonus payout of 13 months!

12. Ernst & Young

Industry: Financial & tax services

 

Website: http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/Malaysia/Malaysia_Home_Page

In Malaysia, Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services firms with more than 2,400 employees in 17 offices in West and East Malaysia. It was established in early 1900s and was one of the first internationally linked public accounting firms in the country.

13. Citibank

Industry: Banking

 

Website: www.citibank.com.my

Citibank is part of Citigroup, the world’s largest banking entity, with operation in more than 100 countries and having more than 200 million customers worldwide. Citibank also offers one of the most comprehensive trainings to their sales force.

14. Dell Asia Pacific

Industry: PC/Hardware

 

Website: www.dell.com.my

Dell is one-stop PC and notebook supplier with state of the art assembly operation in Penang, supported by a world-class standard of customer service operation. At the heart of Dell’s Asia Pacific operations is the Asia Pacific Customer Center (APCC) in Penang, Malaysia. The 238,000-square-foot manufacturing facility opened in October 1995 and in February 2001, Dell’s second Asia Pacific Customer Centre (APCC2) of 370,000-square-feet began operations. Desktops, workstations, notebooks,
servers and storage products are manufactured to order for customers throughout Asia Pacific.

15. Accenture

Industry: Consultancy

Website: http://www.accenture.com/Countries/Malaysia

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with operation in 110 offices worldwide. Accenture collaborate with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. Accenture mobilizes excellent qualified people having the right skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance.

16. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC)

Industry: Financial & Tax services

 

Website: www.pwc.com/my

PWC provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. Their Malaysia operation is supported by a strong 1700 workforce in 9 locations.

17. Toyota

Industry: Automotive

Website: www.toyota.com.my

Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the world’s leading automakers, offering full range of models. As of March 2004, Toyota employs 264,000 people worldwide, and market vehicles in more than 140 countries. Their diversified operations include telecommunications, prefabricated housing and leisure boats.

 

18. Nokia

Industry: Mobile communications

 

Website: www.nokia.com.my

A leading player in mobile communications in the Asia Pacific, Nokia first started operations in the region in the early 1980s. It has since established a leading brand presence in many local markets, and business has expanded considerably in all areas to support customer needs and the growth of the telecommunications industry in the region.

19. Bank Negara Malaysia

Industry: Banking

Website: www.bnm.gov.my

Bank Negara Malaysia is the central bank for Malaysia, established on 26 January 1959. The functions of the Bank are carried out within the context of the broader goals of promoting economic growth, a high level of employment, maintaining price stability and a reasonable balance in the country’s international payments position, eradicating poverty and restructuring society.

20. Western Digital

Industry: Manufacturing

Website: www.wdc.com

Winner of Best Employers in Asia awards, Western Digital is really an excellent organization to be in. You’ll get a chance to get a closer look on the manufacturing operation of enterprise drives, desktop, external and mobile drives.

21. Air Asia

Industry: Aviation

Website: www.airasia.com.my

Air Asia has a record history of being a debt-ridden company turned into a multibillion organization within a span of merely 3 years. Headed by one of Malaysia’s most successful businesspersons, Datuk Tony Fernandez, there’s a limitless chance for your career to reach this sky, as of their planes, once you’re part of this ever growing company.

22. LogicaCMG

Industry: IT outsourcing

 

Website: www.logicacmg.com/my

Currently the biggest IT outsourcing provider in Europe, LogicaCMG is continuing to make impact in Asia Pacific. It provides management and IT consultancy, systems integration and outsourcing services to clients across diverse markets including telecoms, financial services, energy and utilities, industry, distribution and transport and the public sector. Formed in December 2002, through the merger of Logica and CMG, the company employs around 20,000 staff in offices across 34 countries and has nearly 40 years of experience in IT services.

23. KPMG International

Industry: Financial Services

Website: http://www.kpmg.com

KPMG International is the global network of professional services firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services with industry focus. Its aim is to turn knowledge into value for the benefit of its clients, people, and the capital markets. With nearly 94,000 people worldwide, KPMG member firms provide audit, tax, and advisory services from 717 cities in 148 countries.

24. Oracle Corporation

Industry: Software/system

Website: www.oracle.com

For nearly three decades, Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company, has provided the software and services that let organizations get the most up-to-date and accurate information from their business systems.

25. Federal Express (FedEx)

Industry: Logistic & freight forwarding

Website: www.fedex.com/my

Federal Express, part of transportation powerhouse FedEx Corporation connects areas that generate 90 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product in 24 to 48 hours with door-to-door, customs-cleared service and a money-back guarantee. The company’s unmatched air route authorities and infrastructure make it the world’s largest express transportation company,
providing fast, reliable and time-definite transportation of more than 3.2 million items in 220 countries each working day. FedEx has more than 138,000 employees, 50,000 drop-off locations, 671 aircraft and 41,000 vehicles in its integrated global network.

26. Deloitte Malaysia

Industry: Financial & tax services

Website: www.deloitte.com

Deloitte Malaysia is among the nation’s leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through nearly 1,100 people in 8 offices throughout the nation. Having built a strong presence with a portfolio of clients spanning a variety of industries, Deloitte Malaysia has a proven record in providing services to some of the world’s largest multi-nationals as well as local enterprises, financial institutions, government bodies, public and newly privatized organisations.

27. Ericsson

Industry: Mobile communications

 

Website: www.ericsson.com/my

Ericsson is the leading telecom supplier in the world. In the Asia Pacific region, Ericsson has over 30 percent market share in mobile communications infrastructure. Ericsson’s net sales in the region for Q3 2005 accounts for 22% of Ericsson’s global sales.Ericsson has a strong presence in Asia Pacific, with 16 operating entities grouped into five market units: Australia & New Zealand, China, India & Sri Lanka, North East Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan), and South East Asia (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos  and Brunei).

28. Samsung

Industry: Electronics

Website: www.samsung.com

In this region, Malaysia plays a key role in SAMSUNG’s strategy as both a manufacturing export base as well as a market for high-value technology products. They currently employ a total of 2200 employees in Malaysia. SAMSUNG Electronics offices in Malaysia consist of 1 subsidiary office and 2 manufacturing facilities. In recent years, SAMSUNG has evolved as a major
consumer technology brand. We consistently clinch top 3 positions across South-East Asia for televisions, monitors/LCD monitors, side-by-side refrigerators, washing machines and DVD players.

 

29. Sony Malaysia

Industry: Manufacturing/electronic

Website: www.sony.com.my

Sony has helped developed discerning Malaysians who have come to expect quality, integrity and reliability in audio/visual equipment. Sony’s cutting-edge technology brings sights and sounds, expectations and experiences into the home as well as the office.

30. Berjaya Corporation

Industry: Various

Website: www.berjaya.com.my

Berjaya Corporation is a major Malaysian conglomerate with annual revenue in excess of RM2.93 billion. Through a series of acquisitions, organic growth and the entrepreneurial leadership of Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan, Berjaya Corporation today has a total employee strength of over 17,000, and is engaged in the various core activities including property development, vacation & resorts, education, food & beverages, investment holdings and others.

Some American companies rock at taking care of working moms–and all their workers. In 2007, Working Mother gave these employers tip-top scores for their family-friendly policies and attitudes.

1. Baptist Health South
Florida, Floral Gables, FL
Almost half of all employees at this health-care organization flex their schedule, meaning they work full-time but vary their arrival and departure times to meet their own needs. Plus, the company offers a loan of up to $ 10K to first-time home buyers.

2. Booz Allen Hamilton,
McLean, VA
Workers at this consulting firm receive a 10 percent discount at a national child-care chain, plus have access to low-cost backup care. There’s also a career model for permanent part-timers.

3. Ernst & Young, New York City
A Working Moms Network at this accounting firm helps new moms transition back to work, and if a new dad is the primary caregiver, he gets six weeks of leave at full pay (if he’s not, he still gets two). Workers can also arrange for 12 full days per year of subsidized backup child or adult care (workers pay $ 4 to $ 15 per hour).

4. General Mills,
Minneapolis
Forty-four percent of staffers at this food corporation use flextime, and others telecommute and job-share. There’s an on-site child-care center in Minneapolis, and employees at other locations receive a 10 percent discount at two national child-care chains. Plus, the company pays 85 percent of sick child care for employees’ kids.

5. IBM, Armonk, NY
To encourage family time, this technology company offers a program that teaches employees about boosting productivity and cutting unnecessary work. And staff can send kids to the firm’s science/tech summer programs for free (last summer, 1,600 kids participated!).

6. KPMG, New York City
At this accounting firm, more than 65 percent of staffers flex their hours, telecommute, or compress their work weeks. The firm also assists with in-house and center-based backup care.

7. The McGraw-Hill Companies,
New York City
New mothers at this publishing company get 26 weeks of leave, including four weeks fully paid and six partially paid leave, which can be used during the new baby’s first six months.

8. PricewaterhouseCoopers,
New York City
Staffers at this accounting firm receive discounted child care, and when they’re away on business, the firm foots the child-care bill. In addition to 12 weeks of leave (nine paid), if new moms have twins or triplets, they get two extra weeks off.

9. UBS, New York City
At this financial-services firm, The Working Parents Group provides mentoring, and the Career Comeback program offers advice for women on reentering the workforce.

10. Wachovia, Charlotte, NC
Almost a third of employees at this financial-services firm telecommute, and the company hosts an annual work-life balance event to educate employees.

In working closely with technology providers over the years, I regularly discover that these companies are making common mistakes that devalue the company, leave revenue on the table, or jeopardize their long-term health. So this special article identifies the top 10 of these mistakes to help you avoid making them.

10. Failure to register a federal copyright for company-developed software

Your company has spent months, and maybe years developing the next-big-thing. You’re out there licensing it to customers, fighting off competitors, and trying to maximize your revenues. What would you do if a customer was misusing your software? What if a competitor was copying parts of it to use in its product? There are various ways to respond to these problems, but one of the easiest to way to strengthen your claims is to register a copyright for the software with the United States Copyright Office. Registration provides you with an enhanced ability to have a court prevent infringing use of your software, and a greater amount of damages that are recoverable. The best part is that registration is relatively easy and inexpensive.

9. Licensing technology too broadly

So you’ve landed that big deal with that big customer. You’ve carefully priced the deal based upon your expectations of how the customer is going to use your technology – by a specific group within the customer’s large organization. You’re hoping that the success of this deal will lead to a greater adoption of your technology within the rest of the company, and ultimately more revenue for you. Unfortunately, you later learn that this one group is sharing your technology throughout the rest of the company, with no additional license fees to you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Why? By failing to carefully and narrowly draw up the license grant in your agreement, you’ve unwittingly granted the entire company the rights to use your technology, and you’ve left a pile of cash on the table.

8. Failure to provide detailed support and maintenance policies

Too often, once a company’s technology is ready to be licensed, determining how to support the technology becomes an afterthought. General and non-descriptive obligations like “providing telephone and email support” and “providing updates” are invitations for disagreements and missed expectations. When is phone support being offered? How quickly will you respond to problems? What is considered and update and what is a new product for which you would charge the customer separately? Many times, you need your customer to provide you with certain information about the problem before you can diagnose and fix it. Set the appropriate expectations in your support and maintenance policies and avoid these issues in the future.

7. Not contracting customers to recurring support fees

Customers want and expect that you will be there to support your product, assist with problems, and provide them updates when you add features or fix bugs. Customers also expect that you will regularly charge them for these services, so why do so many technology vendors sell a product to a customer and fail to structure regular and recurring support fees? In general, a technology vendor’s highest profit margins are realized through a support fee stream, and not in the upfront license charge.

6. Inadequate non-disclosure and non-compete agreements with employees and contractors

The technology business is one of the most competitive industries in the market. Why take a chance losing your competitive advantage by not ensuring that your intellectual property, customer lists, trade secrets, and other sensitive information are properly protected through appropriate agreements with your employees, contractors, and vendors? Finding and using some form agreement that you saw floating around on the Internet somewhere may actually make matters worse if you don’t fully understand the terms. Moreover, simple steps can be taken to ensure that anything developed by your employees is, and remains, your company’s property.

5. Giving away intellectual property ownership too liberally

Many technology companies develop customized technology for their customers, or make customized modifications to their existing technology on behalf of a particular customer. And most customers argue that if they’re paying for it, they want to own it. But giving away your company’s intellectual property in these instances can prevent you from reusing it for other customers – effectively shutting down a potential source of revenue in the future. And many times, your customers may not need to actually “own” the developments – a license right can often do the trick.

4. Using overly broad or subjective acceptance testing

It is not uncommon or unreasonable for customers to want to “kick the tires” of your technology before they pay for it. Problems arise when the customer has an unreasonable expectation of what the technology is supposed to achieve, and either want to withhold payment, or force you to provide extra services to meet that unreasonable expectation. This especially manifests itself when a customer includes acceptance testing language in a contract which is not tied to objective and realistic standards. Although it can be a laborious effort, taking the time to objectify these standards with the customer in the contract can save you significant time down the road, and get you paid faster.

3. Offering liberal source code escrow release conditions

For software developers, you know that your source code is the “crown jewels” of your business. It is the core of your technology, representing months or years of your blood, sweat, and tears. Yet many software companies are willing to give it away, for free, to their customers. How? By entering into a source code escrow agreement with a customer and allowing it to be released to them in situations where the code still holds value for you. Many customers will demand the source code be released to them if you stop supporting the software, but the intellectual property in the code may still be used in your other products or technology, effectively giving your customer the tools it needs to duplicate your technology. Creating very narrow and specific source code release conditions can minimize this impact.

2. Undervaluing technology

What is your technology worth? It’s a difficult question, and value can be measured and determined in many ways. Many new technology companies feel compelled to undercharge for their technology in an effort to break into the market. Although there is certainly some merit in that, I see vendors consistently undervaluing what their technology is worth, leaving significant revenue on the table. Understanding the impact and loss to the customer if they DON’T license your technology is the first key to pricing your product. Plus, under-pricing your product can create an impression that the technology is “cheap” – not a label that will build a positive reputation of your company in the long run.

1. Using a form license and/or services agreement that doesn’t fit your business model

Capturing exactly how you want to provide your product or services to your customer, allocating the risks, and creating each party’s obligations and rights, is not a simple or quick process. Replicating some other company’s form agreement not only exposes you to risks that you may not be aware of, but potentially violates the other company’s copyright in their agreement, and raises the risks outlined in the other points of this list. Having a customized agreement created for you that aligns with your business processes, mitigates your risks, and addresses the laws that apply in your jurisdiction for your industry is a key component in running a successful technology business.

The advent of the computers radically changed our lifestyle. Communication, researching and other works have never been any easier.
Computers are machines that work on data according to the list of instructions. Early electronic computers consume much power. Modern computers, on the other hand, are based on tiny integrated circuits. Nowadays, simple computers can be made to fit in a wristwatch and powered by watch batteries.
Generally, a computer has four main sections such as the ALU or the arithmetic and logic unit, the memory, the control unit and the IO or the input and output devices. The basic input and output, control unit, register and control units are known as the CPU or central processing unit. Early central processing units were composed of numerous circuits but now it is typically assembled on a single integrated circuit known as a microprocessor.
The Arithmetic or Logic Unit (ALU) is capable of executing two modules of operation such as logic and arithmetic. Some computers are capable of executing easier operations that can be programmed to break the complex operations, making them into easy executable steps. Hence, a Superscalar computer has multiple arithmetic or logic units.
There are numerous computer companies around the world. One of this is the Yemen Computer Company. It is the main and pioneer company of Yemen. It is the most experienced and the largest computer company in this country.
Furthermore, this Yemen based company is a computer software and hardware vendor or distributor. It also represents Intel servers, IBM products, Sun Microsystems products and POS products. It also caters to ATM products, Satellite Communication products as well as their related support supplies and systems.
The company is also associated with numerous software houses in order to provide the needs of commercial, trading, public utilities, airlines and telecommunication along with banking sectors. Yemen Computer Company has several headquarters located in Yemen. This would be in Mukalla, Hodeidah, Taiz, Aden and Sana.
Tactical Computer Company is the leading cutting edge software development company. This Ohio based company offers services such as Custom Software Development, Custom Web Solution, Emerging Technologies, Lost Password Recovery and Online Commerce as well as Internet Site Development, Database Design and Integration, Security and Firewall Specialists.
Ormond Computer Company is an Information Technology department for companies that do not have an in-house and full time Information Department. It can also be for those with only a small Information Technology that needs outside assistance. The company technicians can build and design your workstation or server. All Custom Built Systems of the company are built with premier quality components.
Helix Computer Company is based in Indiana. The goal of the company is to provide quality services and products to their consumer. The company has services such as Custom Built Computers, Video and Audio Production Services, Photography and Design Services. This is along with Website Design and Marketing Services, Computer Services and Repair.
Helix Computer company can build turn-key computer systems for numerous applications. The Company production studio was constructed with a self-sufficient artist in mind. Helix production studios are capable of making videos, audios, graphics, animation and so much more.
Computers may be quite expensive but you can scout for refurbished ones such as Dell Computers that can collect their old model computers while still be installed with the latest technology. This model is great and affordable in budget terms.
Sometimes a basic computer may be enough for your needs. The bare bones model is also great if you only check e-mails, word processes and surf the Internet. Dell retails basic models for less than 500 US dollars. This basic system is a good deal for common users.

The aim of this advantageous merger is to join technical and marketing expertise to offer extended services spectrum, more elegant and intelligent software solutions and products.

Enterra Inc. will be able to provide its customers’ projects with powerful and reliable software components for reporting, data analysis and visualization; it will dramatically reduce cost and timeline of customers’ projects and increase their ROI.

“Thanks to a large number of ready-to-use software components provided by Perpetuum Software we can cut down both the cost and the timeline for our clients’ projects”, stated Enterra’s CEO, Dmitry Starostenkov.

Perpetuum Software will intensify development of existing products; new releases will be announced oftener and will feature more new abilities. As usual all new and promising technologies will be delivered to the customers.

“Enlarged programmers staff will join experience and skills to work hard on new versions of the reporting and data visualization products we offer. I believe our customers will enjoy enhanced quality of our products and services”, said Eugene Akinshin, CTO at Perpetuum Software LLC.

So, customers of the combined company will benefit from this merger as they will get advanced software products, solutions and services of higher level. It will allow us to reach and address new market segments, as well as strengthen our position on the established markets.

Both organizations will go to the next stage of success, innovate and make breakthroughs in the IT industry.

About Perpetuum Software LLC (http://www.perpetuumsoft.com)

The company was founded in 2002. It offers .Net software components designed for reporting, data analysis and visualization. Company headquarter is based in Russia (Barnaul) with offices in Europe (Netherlands) and Latin America (Brazil). It stands as Microsoft Certified Partner. 3500 clients in more than 70 countries have been using Perpetuum Software products for 6 years.

About Enterra (http://www.enterra-inc.com)

The company was founded in 2001. This is a multi-national company with offices based in Tampa (USA), Walldorf (Germany), Barnaul, Moscow (Russia). Enterra specializes in custom software development, business systems integration, software products licensing. It stands as Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, IBM Business Partner, and Sun Partner. Its staff consists of over 50 highly professional specialists. For 7 years it has successfully accomplished over 300 projects.