VMware announced broad support from its virtualization partner ecosystem, with more than 500 technology partners supporting the launch of VMware vSphere 4. This robust ecosystem, which includes more than 22,000 channel and technology partners in the VMware Partner Network, will provide customers from small and midsized businesses (SMBs) to the enterprise with a wide variety of applications, cloud services, desktop solutions, management solutions, networking, security solutions, servers and storage devices that interoperate with VMware vSphere 4, while providing customers many options for accessing VMware vSphere 4 through OEM and channel partners.

VMware vSphere 4 provides ecosystem partners with numerous integration and co-development programs such as VMware ReadyTM, VMware VMsafeTM and VMware Community Source that enable them to use VMware APIs and interfaces to build advanced technology integrations that deliver value-added solutions. VMware partners of all sizes across the application, channel, cloud, desktop, management, network, security, server and storage segments are offering to support VMware vSphere 4 today or plan to support the product by the end of 2009:

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BakBone Software announced that it has acquired certain assets from Asempra Technologies, Inc., a privately-held company based in Santa Clara, Calif. Asempra develops real-time data protection and recovery solutions for Windows applications and file system data. Under the terms of the agreement, BakBone has agreed to issue 3,846,154 common shares and to pay cash consideration of approximately $350,000, plus accrued royalties.

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HP India and Polaris Software Lab Limited (Polaris) announced an agreement to jointly market and deliver a range of solutions covering software, services and system integration for businesses in India. The two companies will explore new opportunities for strengthening and expanding offerings for customers in the Financial Services Industries (FSI) and software testing segments.

The offerings will leverage products and solutions from both companies to enable customers to accelerate growth, mitigate risk, increase flexibility and lower costs. They will leverage the capability of the Polaris Intellect range of products to enable rapid changes to banking applications and automated core banking processes, with highly flexible and available HP infrastructure.

As part of the agreement, HP will leverage Polaris’ suite of solutions comprising of Global Universal Banking (GUB) Intellect 10.0 and Insurance Intellect SEEC to customers while Polaris will leverage HP systems comprising of HP Integrity servers, HP BladeSystem servers and HP StorageWorks to deliver high performance and availability.  The alliance will also leverage HP’s market-leading Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) software portfolio and Polaris’s testing Capabilities. This will ensure applications function, perform, and are secure enough to meet the needs of the business. 

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HDFC Bank announced an agreement with IBM India to build a cost-effective IT framework that will support the bank’s strong business growth. HDFC Bank is the first commercial bank in India to adopt the IBM mainframe and has joined the ranks of the world’s top 50 banks that continue to run on System z technology.

HDFC Bank appointed IBM after evaluating the systems and technology from IBM and other vendors. The bank also carried out benchmark tests for its core banking application and systems on the IBM System z mainframe. The collaboration will enable HDFC Bank to keep its critical credit card processing requirements in-house while offering robust and uninterrupted service to its customers. It will also eliminate additional investments in data center costs and offer the option to migrate other HDFC Bank applications, such as core banking, to System z mainframes.

The collaboration may also benefit customers by adding more features on existing credit card products, enabling higher processing speed and quicker response time. It will also scale up the customer service process and enhance interfacing capabilities with other applications, leading to more features on self-service channels like Internet.

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Stellar Information Systems has acquired 100% equity of RSE Data Recovery Services B.V., Netherlands for an undisclosed amount The acquisition helps Stellar in its mission to service customers across the globe. Prior to the acquisition; Stellar was providing data recovery services from 12 locations in North America and Asia.

"We are delighted about this acquisition, which will further pave the way for our growth in the European market. Stellar would now also be able to serve its MNC customers with European presence more effectively. This acquisition offers us an excellent opportunity to tap into the knowledge and experience of RSE Data Recovery and springboard our growth plans." informed Sunil Chandna, CEO, Stellar Information Systems Ltd.

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Western Digital has embarked on a nationwide educational initiative titled ‘Know your HDD.’ The initiative is aimed at educating students of engineering colleges and hardware training institutes on the need and functionality of hard drives. As part of the first leg of this program, WD has tied up with Jetking Infotrain Ltd, Indian Institute of Hardware Technology (IIHT) and JaganNath Gupta Institute of Engg. & Tech (JNIT) and has started training sessions with their students. As the initiative advances, the company plans to extend it to other engineering colleges and hardware training institutes across India.

Speaking on this initiative, Sharad Srivastava, Director Sales, Asia, Western Digital said, “The digital explosion has triggered a download revolution thereby creating an ever-increasing need for appropriate storage devices. As pioneers and established leaders in storage, we are committed to increasing awareness levels on storage amongst the youth making them more equipped, technically sound professionals for the storage industry. Ever since we started the campaign in Aug 2008, we completed our training with over 5000 students from these institutes. We plan to reach out to a total of 7500 students by the end of June 2009.”

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Netmagic Solutions announced the availability of its cloud computing services for enterprises, including existing and potential customers. With this announcement, Netmagic now becomes the first managed IT services company in India to launch cloud computing services. Through this suite of offerings; Netmagic will enable Indian enterprises to carry out their operations economically whilst maintaining high standards even during times of downturn.

As part of the cloud computing services vision, Netmagic is offering three services namely - CloudNet, CloudServe and PrivateCloud. The move is designed to address key challenges of IT departments allowing them to maintain availability of applications without having to invest double the amount of capital expenditure in hardware and software. It will also provide companies with the benefit of scaling and reducing compute resources as per business demands without having to worry about hardware management issues. Finally, through these services, IT departments will be able to contribute to the green initiative by subscribing to a service rather than having to underutilize in-house resources.

These services are vertical agnostic and can be deployed for varied applications and OS platforms. Key features of Netmagic Cloud Computing Services include the following-

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IBM announced an agreement with STAR India, to implement SAP ECC 6.0 application encompassing all major business processes. The deal will increase process efficiency, enabling STAR India to enhance customer experience and drive greater control over net margin. The deal also marks a cohesive and systematic approach by IBM India and IBM Hong Kong – demonstrating unmatched extent of experience and talent within IBM to effectively undertake varied ERP implementations across the globe.

Commenting on the agreement, Sanjay Jain, Chief Financial Officer, STAR India said, “In addition to IBM’s strong credentials, the team showcased excellent knowledge of our domain and was able to put us at ease from day one. We strongly feel that in order to provide the best customer service, it is imperative to be flexible and agile to the changing needs of the market place. The SAP solution, implemented by IBM, will allow us to do that.”

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IBM announced that Kusumgar Corporates ,a leader in technical textiles in India, has chosen IBM's Smart Business solution to help it consistently meet the stringent quality standards that govern the technical textile industry. Kusumgar Corporates, a mid-sized company with 200 employees, manufactures a variety of military, industrial, geosynthetics and recreational fabrics. While a leader in the industry, Kusumgar maintains a lean IT staff and sought an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that it could easily manage and maintain. The company selected IBM Smart Business running Infinite’s Textile Integrated Manufacturing (TIM) ERP application to allow Kusumgar to focus on its business while IT works almost invisibly in the background.

TIM is a plug and play ERP system designed specifically for apparel and textile companies and owns over 70 percent of the ERP market for the textile industry in India. TIM manages the entire order cycle, from acceptance and entry to invoicing, requiring minimal configuration and customization. When TIM is matched with IBM Smart Business, clients like Kusumgar can implement a complete ERP solution in just a few weeks. “Kusumgar chose to run TIM on Smart Business because it would be simple to procure, install and maintain,” said Siddharth Kusumgar, President, Kusumgar Corporates. “Now we have a complete, low-cost, integrated infrastructure that we expect to provide us a low total cost of ownership while supporting all of our business needs,” he added

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Microsoft India announced that it has expanded its industry-leading Windows Server family of operating systems with the launch of Windows Server 2008 Foundation. Built for businesses with 15 or fewer users - Windows Server 2008 Foundation delivers the reliability, security and manageability of the Windows Server platform - at a price affordable and within reach of small businesses. Now available in 40 countries including India, it will empower small businesses with the ability to run business applications and databases, host websites and will also offers basic server functionality such as file and print sharing and remote access.

In India, Microsoft has already partnered with HP and Dell in the first rollout phase to provide Windows Server 2008 Foundation preinstalled on servers for customers. In the coming months - the company will establish similar partnerships with multiple Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to further strengthen its distribution channel for Windows Server 2008 Foundation.

As a part of Microsoft’s strategy for this launch, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server hardware makers will be instrumental in bringing Windows Server 2008 Foundation to market. In the second phase of distribution - Windows Server 2008 Foundation will be sold preinstalled on servers from other OEMs in the coming months.  

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Fujitsu Siemens Computers becomes a 100 percent subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited and is renamed Fujitsu Technology Solutions (Holding) B.V. The new company is operating jointly with Fujitsu Services and a unified management under the Fujitsu brand. Both companies extend a comprehensive portfolio of products, solutions and services offering on a global scale to corporate customers in the EMEA region.

The full integration of Fujitsu Technology Solutions, with its strong presence in EMEA, is the catalyst for Fujitsu’s transformation into a truly global company. With this goal in mind, Fujitsu is making substantial investment in its European operations, leading its way into the world from its new European bridgehead.

“With the capabilities and global perspective that Fujitsu Technology Solutions brings, we can transform the very way Fujitsu does business,” said Kuniaki Nozoe, president of Fujitsu Limited. “We can ‘Think Global’ from the inception of new products, and then ‘Act Local’ to serve the needs of our customers. The integration of Fujitsu Technology Solutions will enable the Fujitsu Group to offer fully integrated products and solutions worldwide.”

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Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) announced that it has completed the acquisition of privately held Fabrik, Inc. Fabrik’s business will form the core of Hitachi GST’s new Branded Business division. Fabrik’s leading storage brands include G-Technology, offering premium external storage solutions for the Apple Mac, content creation and professional audio/video markets; and SimpleTech, an innovative leader in PC-based external storage and backup solutions.

Mike Cordano, Fabrik CEO and co-founder, joins Hitachi GST as executive vice president of Sales and Marketing and president, Branded Business. He will lead the Hitachi GST external storage business, as well as the company's worldwide sales and marketing organizations. Mr. Cordano is a 20-year data storage industry veteran and previously served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Maxtor Corporation.

Hitachi GST will fully support the G-Technology and SimpleTech product lines, building upon their success and differentiation in the market. Both brands have clearly differentiated offerings that complement and strengthen the existing Hitachi GST hard drive portfolio.

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Brocade announced the Brocade Technology Alliance Partner Program (TAPP) to develop new business opportunities and long-term strategic alliances by delivering comprehensive, proven, and customized joint technology solutions to enterprises and service providers. Through strategic alliances, implementation of joint technology solutions, and tested interoperability, customers gain increased choice and flexibility to customize networking infrastructures to meet their specific business needs.

The Brocade TAPP delivers best-in-class solutions with industry-leading companies. The program is structured into three levels of alliance membership: Global Alliance Partners, Strategic Alliance Partners, and Advantage Alliance Partners. Each level provides an increasing number of benefits and commitment from Brocade.

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Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Lenovo to continue its long-standing relationship as a supplier of hard disk drives (HDD) for the development of PCs and notebooks on a worldwide basis. The MOU was signed at the “2009 U.S.-China Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum” taking place during the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s customary, commercial purchasing delegation visit to the United States, which aims to improve the trade balance between China and the United States.

Hitachi has been shipping hard drives to Lenovo long before IBM’s PC business was taken over by Lenovo in 2004. The announcement today not only recognizes and strengthens the successful partnership between Lenovo and Hitachi GST, but also symbolizes the mutual commitment to China-US trade.

Under the 12-month MOU effective April 1, 2009, Lenovo, its affiliates and authorized third-party purchasers will purchase Hitachi GST’s award-winning 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch HDDs for notebook and desktop PC applications respectively, capturing the business opportunities in the PC industry, especially in China. According to IDC, China's PC market will rebound by 2010 with 16 percent year-over-year growth. Lenovo also leads the Asian PC market, controlling 16.9 percent of the market.

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Western Digital announced that it has completed a $65 million cash acquisition of SiliconSystems, Inc., Aliso Viejo, Calif., a leading supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market.

SiliconSystems' product portfolio includes solid-state drives with SATA, EIDE, PC Card, USB and CF interfaces in 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, CF and other form factors. WD's storage industry leadership, worldwide infrastructure, and technical and financial resources will enable further growth in SiliconSystems' existing markets and customer relationships. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will provide additional building blocks for future products to address emerging opportunities in WD's existing markets.

Integration into WD begins immediately, with SiliconSystems now becoming known as the WD Solid-State Storage business unit, complementing WD's existing Branded Products, Client Storage, Consumer Storage and Enterprise Storage business units.

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HCL Technologies Ltd. has entered into a six-year, multi-regional data center services and transformation engagement with Xerox Corporation. The contract will span mid-range services, business continuity and disaster recovery for Xerox’s information management operations.  HCL will manage data center hosting and migration, virtualization, consolidation and storage architecture services across North America and Europe. In addition, HCL will provide architecture and consulting services for new technology and system design, adoption and lifecycle improvement.

HCL will use its Business Service Management process to centralize and standardize Xerox’s data centers’ infrastructure.  The engagement will also leverage HCL’s unique “zero-business” disruption based transition framework to ensure an accelerated risk-free transition across distributed regional data centers.

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IBM announced Shared University Research awards (SUR) for International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT, Hyderabad), Indian School of Business (ISB, Hyderabad) and SP Jain Management Institute and Research (SPJMIR, Mumbai) to promote research in areas of mutual interest. The SUR awards, totaling 210,000 USD, will drive key projects across these three institutes and strive to connect the research and researchers at the universities with IBM experts in similar fields of work.

IIIT- Hyderabad has been awarded to set up Center of Excellence on Cell and Power Multi-core architecture on campus to drive collaborative research to study the architectural and algorithmic aspects of Cell and Power Multi-core architecture; to develop Media and Computational intensive applications and benchmark IBM’s Multi-core architecture performance; to develop courseware that includes architectural, algorithmic and application aspects of Cell and Power

ISB has been awarded to foster research on Service Supply Chain Management and Services Operations Management, which is related to deployment and management of technical resources. SPJMR has been awarded to enhance services course development and specific projects on Business Process Management & Simulations

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Transcend is currently offering a complete line of SSD (Solid State Drive) products including its brand-new 1.8” portable SSD (SSD18M) that features the versatility of both eSATA and USB connection interfaces in capacities of up to 128GB, and also 1.8" and 2.5" form-factor SATA-II and IDE interface SSDs with up to 192GB storage capacity. All of these high-speed reliable drives are backed by a two-year warranty along with the support of Transcend’s global service network. Transcend aims to aggressively market its full line of Solid State Drives in India as the company sees the Indian market quickly warming up to this new and superior storage technology.

Unlike traditional hard disk drives, Transcend's SSD18M contains no moving parts, which not only eliminates the possibility of mechanical failure resulting from vibration and shock, but also provides substantial weight savings and reduced power consumption. With both eSATA and USB2.0 interface options, this portable SSD18M features the ultimate in connection flexibility, offering guaranteed speed along with multi-platform compatibility. Its new high-speed eSATA interface provides a maximum read speed of 90MB/s and write speeds of 50MB/s, while its USB2.0 interface assures maximum compatibility with all types of notebook and desktop PCs.

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SAP AG announced the opening of the third SAP Co-Innovation Lab, at SAP Labs India in Bangalore, which joins existing labs in Palo Alto, California, and Tokyo, Japan. Initially, the SAP Co-Innovation Lab Bangalore will closely engage with the following partners: Arteria Technologies, Cisco, Cognizant, F5 Networks, Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corp., Intelligroup, KLG Systel Ltd., Larson & Toubro Infotech Ltd., MindTree Ltd, MobileOne I.P.Ltd, NetApp and Wipro Technologies. Asian Paints, India's largest paint company with operations in 21 countries, is actively co-innovating with SAP and partners in the lab as a marquee customer.

With its ever-growing base of engineers and developers, coupled with new generations being raised with an increased focus on software and technology, India is a logical choice to serve as host of a new SAP Co-Innovation Lab. The SAP Co-Innovation Lab hosts a simulated heterogeneous datacenter integrating hardware and infrastructure software from SAP and participating sponsors. SAP Co-Innovation Lab members have a hands-on environment where they can work on proof-of-concepts and build and test new business processes and SOA solutions. The lab also promotes new and innovative applications and technology solutions to SAP customers through joint seminars, community discussions and events. In addition, the lab provides onsite and online demo theaters and landscapes to address a broader variety of topics, best practices and solution maps.

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