Information-Redefined-Commerce

SAP exec takes on open source

2005-12-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

The open-source movement can stifle innovation, SAP executive Shai Agassi reportedly said in a speech this week, where he obliquely compared the movement to socialism.

"Intellectual property (IP) socialism is the worst that can happen to any IP-based society," he was quoted saying by VNUNet. "And we are an IP-based society. If there is no way to protect IP, there is no reason to invest in IP."

The sentiment isn't uncommon in proprietary software circles, and has raised the hackles of many in the open-source movement. And while Agassi's quote wasn't quite as inflammatory as Bill Gates' communist comment, it was enough to heat up the blogosphere.

Blog community response:

"I'm no open source zealot to be sure, but it does strike me that this is possibly one of the best proposals for unleashing developer productivity, developing new applications (Firefox), and creating a new class of infrastructure technology (too many to list)."
--Venture Chronicles

"There are plenty of comments floating round the blogosphere and instead of the unavoidable SAP/Shai bashing - the real question should be how the Open Source community can work with SAP (and vice-versa) so that customers profit regardless of which choice they make."
--The Silent Penguin

"At least it's only socialism this time, rather than full on communism."--UK Open Source MediaWatch

NTL plans $1.4B offer for Virgin Mobile

2005-12-05T04:05:00.000-08:00

LONDON (AP) -- British cable operator NTL Inc. said Monday it has approached Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile Holdings PLC about buying the cell-phone company for more than 810 million pounds ($1.4 billion).

If the deal goes ahead, it would create Britain's first "quadruple play" service, offering mobile phones, fixed-line phones, Internet broadband and TV.

NTL, which is already in the process of acquiring cable rival Telewest Global, said it plans to offer Virgin Mobile shareholders 0.09298 shares of NTL common stock per share of Virgin Mobile as well as a full cash alternative at 323 pence ($5.59) per share.

NTL said the Virgin Group, the Branson-controlled company that owns 72 percent of Virgin Mobile, has indicated it would exchange its stake in Virgin Mobile for shares in NTL Group.

However, analysts suggested that Virgin Mobile's statement on the proposed deal contained a strong hint that the company's board would seek a better offer price.

"In considering its response, the Board of Virgin Mobile will be mindful of its duty to maximize value for all shareholders," the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Shares in Virgin Mobile rose 8 percent to 336 pence ($5.82) in London. NTL is listed in the United States and closed Friday unchanged at $60.10.

Numis Securities said that a merger between the two would pose a threat to rival British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC in two to three years.

BSkyB, which is 36.6 percent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., announced in October a 211 million pound ($375.1 million) takeover of high-speed Internet provider Easynet Group PLC.

That deal will give BSkyB a "triple play" service, offering high-speed Internet access, pay-TV and landline telephone service.

Analysts had long predicted Virgin Mobile - a virtual operator that leases capacity from T-Mobile International AG - would be the next target in the flurry of activity in the telecommunications sector, despite comments from Chief Executive Tom Alexander last month that it had not received any approaches.

A combined NTL, Virgin and Telewest would have around 2.5 million broadband customers and 4.3 million fixed-line telephony customers, while providing television to 5 million homes.

NTL said it planned to use the Virgin brand across its empire of Internet, television and telecom services if the takeover is successful. Shareholders have yet to approve the 3.4 billion pound ($5.9 billion) NTL/Telewest tie-up announced in October.

NTL said that Virgin Group had given verbal assurances that "if a transaction proceeds, it intends to elect to exchange its stake in Virgin Mobile for a continuing equity participation in NTL Group, although it has reserved to take a small portion of the consideration in cash."

Branson has been offered a 14 percent stake in the enlarged group, which would make him the biggest single shareholder in the new group.

Adware maker sues over 'high risk' designation

2005-12-05T04:03:00.000-08:00

Adware maker sues over 'high risk' designation

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Advertising software maker 180solutions has filed suit against security company Zone Labs for allegedly telling some of 180solutions' customers that its software products are "high risk."

Such a characterization has damaged the reputation of the products, 180solutions contends, prompting one potential business partner to postpone a deal and many of 180solutions' users to uninstall the software, according to a copy of the suit obtained by CNET News.com.

The suit comes as 180solutions attempts to improve its public image and continues to take fire from anti-spyware groups, which characterize many adware products as computer-privacy time bombs.

Now, 180solutions is firing back. In the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of King County, Wash., last month, the company claimed that Zone Labs identified both the Zango and 180search Assistant applications, which deliver pop-up ads to users as they perform Web searches, as a "potential threat to the user's security and/or privacy."

These claims are false, according to 180solutions. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company has asked for unspecified monetary damages and an injunction forcing Zone Labs to cease its current classification of the products.

Anti-spyware and adware companies have feuded for years as Internet users have unwittingly installed ad-supported software that displays or downloads advertisements while an application is being used. Adware companies are often willing to pay others to distribute their software products, a policy that has led to many well-publicized abuses, according to anti-spyware advocates.

These abuses have included attempts to bury download disclosures in lengthy legalese; installing software surreptitiously through Web browser security holes; and making it difficult to uninstall the pop-up programs.

"In my opinion, 180solutions is a perfectly legitimate target for anti-spyware companies," said Eric Howes, a spyware researcher at the University of Illinois. "The bottom line is that we continue to find unethical and illegal installations of 180's software."

At the heart of 180solution's suit is the assertion made by San Francisco-based Zone Labs that 180's products try to monitor a user's "mouse movements and keyboard strokes."

180solutions says that because it uses the programming function Windows API Hook, which can be used to track keyboard strokes and mouse movements, Zone Labs erroneously concluded that it's taking advantage of the function in this way.

"That's just flat-out wrong," said Sean Sundwall, a spokesman for 180solutions. The company said it tried to inform Zone Labs executives that its assessment was wrong, but failed to convince them.

"The legal option was the only one we had," Sundwall said. "But this is not the start of a wave of lawsuits against anti-spyware companies."

A Zone Labs representative did not return phone calls seeking comment on Thursday.

SONY STOPS MAKING ANTI-PIRACY CDs

2005-11-22T05:21:00.000-08:00

Sony has said it will suspend the production of music CDs with anti-piracy technology which can leave computers vulnerable to viruses.
The move came after security firms said hackers were exploiting the software to hide their creations.

The software has been used by viruses to evade detection by anti-virus programs and infect computers.

Sony said it had a right to stop people illegally copying music, but added that the halt was precautionary.

"We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use," the company said in a statement.

Viral trio

In late October Sony BMG was found to be using stealth techniques to hide software that stopped some of its CDs being illegally copied.

Windows programming expert Mark Russinovich discovered that the Sony XCP copy protection system was a so-called "root-kit" that hid itself deep inside the Windows operating system.

XCP uses these techniques to install a proprietary media player that allows PC users to play music on the 20 CDs Sony BMG is protecting with this system. The CDs affected are only being sold in the US.

Soon after Mr Russinovich exposed how XCP worked security experts speculated that it would be easy to hijack the anti-piracy system to hide viruses.

Now anti-virus companies have discovered three malicious programs that use XCP's stealthy capabilities if they find it installed on a compromised PC.

Backdoor virus

Security firm Sophos said it had found a virus attached to a spam message posing as an e-mail from a British business magazine. The subject line of the message is: "Photo Approval Deadline".

Those opening and running the program attached to the mail will have their computer infected with the Stinx-E trojan. The virus is also known as Breplibot and Ryknos.

Sony was trying to stop illegal copying of its CDs
This virus opens a backdoor into infected machines and tries to download more malicious code from the net to further compromise an infected machine.

A bug in the code of the first variant of this virus prevented it working properly but now other versions of the malicious program are appearing that fix this problem.

So far the numbers of people caught out by the virus is thought to be very low.

Graham Cluley from Sophos said he expected other virus writers to start exploiting the Sony XCP code.

Sony apologised, saying it was working with computer security firms to address the problems.

The news came as more legal challenges to Sony's use of the anti-piracy program were being launched.

At last count six class-action lawsuits have been started against the company.

As the Boycott Sony blog pointed out, the appearance of these viruses could make it much easier for lawyers to argue that the XCP software can cause real harm to a user's computer.

MICROSOFT'S REPLY

Microsoft will update its security tools to detect and remove part of the copy protection tools installed on PCs when some music CDs are played. The Redmond, Wash., software maker has determined that the "rootkit" piece of the XCP software on some Sony BMG Music Entertainment CDs can pose a security risk to Windows PCs, according to a posting Saturday to a Microsoft corporate Web log. The Sony BMG software installs itself deeply inside a hard drive when a CD is played on a PC. The technology uses rootkit techniques to hide itself. Experts blasted the cloaking mechanism, saying it could be abused by virus writers. The first remote-control Trojan horses that take advantage of the veil provided by Sony BMG have surfaced. To protect Windows users, Microsoft plans to update Windows AntiSpyware and the Malicious Software Removal Tool as well as the online scanner on Windows Live Safety Center to detect and remove the Sony BMG software, the software maker said in its blog. Windows AntiSpyware is Microsoft's spyware-fighting software that is currently available as a test version and used by millions of people worldwide. Microsoft provides weekly updates for Windows AntiSpyware. The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is updated monthly and is part of Microsoft's monthly patch releases. Detection and removal of the rootkit component will also be in Windows Defender, the forthcoming update to Windows AntiSpyware that will also be part of Windows XP successor Windows Vista, Microsoft said. In its move to detect and remove the Sony BMG rootkit, Microsoft follows other makers of security software. Symantec and Computer Associates are among those that are offering, at minimum, rootkit detection capabilities in their products. Sony BMG itself has provided a patch that fixes the security problem and still allows CDs to be played on PCs. On Friday, Sony said it had halted production of CDs with the controversial technology, which is designed to limit the number of copies that can be made of the CD and to prevent a computer user from making unprotected MP3s of the music. Sony does still produce CDs that use a different copy protection scheme. and there is a diagram too if anyone wants to look , its at http://news.com.com/Microsoft+will+w...tml?tag=cd.top

India's Forex reserves up by US$291 mln

2005-10-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

India's foreign exchange reserves grew by US$291 million during the week ending January 28, 2005 to touch US$129.72 billion.

Foreign currency assets during the week also rose by US$286 million to US$123.719 billion, the RBI said in its weekly statistical supplement here today.

Gold reserves and Special Drawing Rights remained static at US$4.582 billion and US$5 million respectively, RBI said.

India's Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) with International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by US$5 million to reach US$1.414 billion, it said.

Loans and advances to state governments were up by Rs 2.22 billion (US$51.246 million) to Rs 34.35 billion while that to central government showed a nil balance.

During the fortnight ending January 21, aggregate deposits with the banks grew by Rs 58.35 billion (0.4 per cent) to Rs 16,615.73 billion, the RBI aid.

Food credit during this fortnight, however, fell by Rs 36.30 billion to Rs 414.29 billion while non-food credit rose by Rs 73.36 billion to Rs 9,995.12 billion, the central bank added

E*Trade Buys BrownCo From JPMorgan for $1.6 Billion

2005-09-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

The online brokerage world continues to consolidate at breakneck speed as E*Trade (NYSE: ET) announced its third acquisition in two months, saying it would buy BrownCo from JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a deal worth US$1.6 billion.
The all-cash deal will give E*Trade access to a wealthy and active customer base, perhaps the most sought-after commodity in the online stock trading space today. BrownCo has 200,000 customers with an average of more than $145,000 in each account, among the highest in the industry. E*Trade also picks up about $29 billion in assets, $3.4 billion in customer cash and approximately 28,000 daily average revenue trades.

Survival of the Fittest
Like earlier acquisitions, the BrownCo buy is about survival in the online trading business and about gaining customers to expose to its broad range of other financial offerings, including banking, wealth management consulting and other personalized services.
E*Trade CEO Mitchell Caplan called BrownCo a "premier brokerage asset and an ideal strategic fit" for his company, saying it would accelerate "the build out of our business model in this fast-consolidating industry.
"The acquisition of BrownCo complements the recent acquisition of Harrisdirect, by strengthening and extending our asset gathering strategy with a strong customer demographic, while delivering greater scale," he added.
In August, E*Trade bought Harris Direct for $700 million and just a day later announced it was taking over privately held investment advisory firm Kobren Insight Management. Both of those deals came about a month after rival Ameritrade said it would buy TD Waterhouse from Toronto-Dominion bank. E*Trade has reportedly held talks about merging with that online broker as well.
Analysts have long predicted widespread consolidation in the online brokerage industry due to rapidly dropping trading prices that cut deeply into profit margins.
Logical Choice
Diversified companies are seen as best positioned to withstand that price-cutting war and E*Trade was an early adopter of a diversified strategy, opening storefront banks as well as an online bank even before the sector was hit hard by the 2000 Nasdaq crash and the recession that began late in 2001.
Still, companies were seen having to consolidate as the growth of online trading slowed.
Fox-Pitt, Kelton analyst David Trone said that with BrownCo and Harris Direct, E*Trade seems to have bought the only two major brokerages that were on the market and may have given itself considerable time in which to strengthen itself to fend off the competitive threat of the combined Ameritrade-Waterhouse.
"E*Trade has very quickly responded by acquiring HarrisDirect and BrownCo, which in our view were the only two sizable competitors that were even remotely willing to sell."
Trone said the deal seemed to have a high price tag, but that may be a reflection of the fact that BrownCo was one of the few options for E*Trade to gain customers quickly. "There are substantial synergies and relatively low integration risk," Trone added.
E*Trade said the deal would begin to be accretive to its earnings within 9 months and said it may sell some stock in order to raise the cash to make the purchase.
Once all the mergers are completed -- and assuming they get through regulatory reviews, which many analysts expect they will -- E*Trade will have about 4.3 million customer accounts and $160 billion in customer assets on its books and will be handling some 160,000 daily trades on average.
Integration Watch
Analysts will likely be watching E*Trade closely for signs that it has bit off more than it can easily chew in terms of effectively absorbing and integrating target firms. But John Taladay, an attorney with Washington, D.C.-based Howrey said E*Trade likely has the capacity to handle concurrent mergers.
Taladay also believes all of the recent deals will get a green light from anti-trust regulators, with the Justice Department only getting involved when the number of brokerages falls substantially.
"It would take a fairly major deal for regulators to step in and take a stand," he added

The big surge

2005-09-14T02:02:00.000-07:00

The writing on the wall is strident, emphatic, conclusive and in tri-colour. India now ranks among the top 10 economies in the world.

Barely a few decades ago, India was button-holed in a time-warp, battling poverty, illiteracy and disease.
While the battle continues, new streams of prosperity are leveraging a social and economic renaissance that promises the world an endless Indian summer.
If current economic projections are realised, India may continue to be the flavour of a season that refuses to end.
A prosperous and rapidly growing middle-class, booming exports, increased foreign direct investments, a galloping Sensex, manifold strides in information technology and telecommunications, a powerful SMB (small and medium business) segment, greater rural and infrastructural investments, a burgeoning outsourcing sector, pioneering initiatives in nanotechnology and biotechnology, and the seismic shift that was initiated about a decade ago when India turned into a market economy, seems to be finally bearing fruit.
Global player
India is today the new global player. According to the World Bank gross domestic product rankings for the year 2004, India with a GDP of $691.876 billion (Dh2.54 trillion) is behind only the US, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, China, Spain and Canada in that order.
Underscoring this claim is a research report released by William T. Wilson, Ph.D., Chief Economist for Keystone India, and one of the leading economists in the US. He predicts, with some authority, that India will surpass Japan to become the world's third largest economy, behind the US and China, within 25 years.
“Demographics and economic reform are driving India's growth,” says Dr. Wilson. “With half the population under the age of twenty-five, India will have the youngest labour force in the world, and its population is expected to exceed China's by 2030. India's working age population is expected to grow continuously over the next 40 years.”
Dr. Wilson adds, “ India's economic reforms, which formerly were driven by responses to crises, are now driven by policy. Several key sectors, including pharmaceuticals, power, telecommunications, civil aviation, insurance and real estate, are now open to foreign direct investment.” He believes that India has also made better use of invested capital than China. “ China's investment as a share of GDP is twice that of India, but its GDP growth rate has been only 50 per cent higher. Rising domestic investment is likely to lift India's trend GDP growth rate above 7 per cent for some time,” he concludes.
According to another projection by Goldman Sachs, the Indian economy is poised to overtake Italy in 2015, France in 2020, Germany in 2025, and Japan in 2035. Fuelling the Indian growth will be its rising middle class and strong demographic advantages. The proportion of India's working-age population (15-60 years) is set to peak around 2020 at around 60 per cent of the country's total population, which is expected to be the largest working population in any one country on the globe.
India's economic growth indicators have been encouraging. Led by a double-digit growth in the manufacturing and electricity sectors, industrial growth touched 10.8 per cent in May 2005, against 6.8 per cent in May 2004. This is the highest monthly growth in nearly eight years. Manufacturing growth was up 11.5 per cent from 7.5 per cent in the corresponding month last year, while electricity reported a 10.6 per cent jump in production in May 2005 against a 3.1 per cent growth in May 2004.
Industrial growth in April-May this fiscal is at 9.6 per cent, against 7.9 per cent in the corresponding period last year, according to figures released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSI).
Textile products (including apparel) have shown the highest growth of 35.1 per cent, followed by 15.9 per cent in machinery and equipment other than transport equipment and 14.6 per cent in basic chemicals and chemical products.
As per use-based classification, the capital goods segment, an indicator of the investment levels in the economy, reported a fairly high growth of 19.2 per cent in May 2005, against 13 per cent in May 2004.
Consumer goods also performed well, growing at 19 per cent, compared with 4 per cent in the corresponding month last year. Consumer durables grew at 19.5 per cent and consumer non-durables at 18.7 per cent in May 2005. The basic goods segment grew 8.1 per cent, up from 3 per cent in May 2004.
Satisfied by the growth, RBI Governor Y. V. Reddy pointed out that the Indian economy is largely insulated from episodes of global financial instability and that India has built resilience to shocks, and is less vulnerable to output volatility. “Barring supply shocks, particularly those due to the international oil prices, inflation, especially core inflation, has been fairly low,” Reddy added in his inaugural address at the eighth meeting of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Working Party on Monetary Policy recently.
According to Reddy, policy making has become more globalised as cyclical changes are becoming more synchronised, especially since the 1990s. “There is increasing convergence in perception, choice of instruments, institutional structure and communication strategy in monetary policy making.” Focusing on country-specific features of India, he added that the multiple indicator approach followed by RBI was a logical outcome of the multiple objectives that characterise the monetary policy framework. “The enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act by parliament provides further flexibility in conduct of monetary policy,” he says.
Further augmenting a rocking economy are growing FDI inflows. India is expected to attract around $7 billion in foreign direct investment during the current financial year against $5 billion that flowed in during 2004-05. “Going by the trends in the first five months of the current fiscal, we should be able to get FDI to the tune of $7 billion. The increase is because of the increased inflows through the automatic route,” says Ajay Dua, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion. He adds that while India did not recognise pre-establishment of firms, it accorded 'national treatment' to all foreign companies once investment began to flow in. India also gave benefits to countries with which it had a double-taxation agreement.
Dua points out that India was expecting a manifold increase in patent applications under the modified patents regime. “In 1995, India had received 4,000 patent applications. This increased to 15,000 in 2004. Of the 15,000 applications, 1,700 applications were from US companies. We expect applications to increase by leaps and bounds this year,” he says.
India is also an important research and development destination. There are over 2,000 registered R&D institutions in the country and 6,000 PhDs awarded annually. Besides, the country produced 200,000 engineers and 300,000 science graduates and post-graduates every year. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 120 companies already have a presence in India.
As more and more Indians are gleefully beckoned by the good life, India waltzes to global center-stage. An ancient civilisation that caught the fancy of the world with the delicacy of its culture, is now parading its economic prowess with élan.
HIGH GROWTHFMCG market to double
The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector is set to more than double its market size to Rs 1 trillion (Dh84.47 billion) by 2010 from the present level of Rs480 billion (Dh40.55 billion) due to an expected high penetration into rural and semi-urban areas. “FMCG will be witnessing more than 50 per cent of its growth in rural and semi-urban segments by 2010, which in totality is projected to grow at an annual compound growth of 10 per cent to carry forward its market size to Rs1 trillion,” a study pointed out.
The growing penchant and insatiable appetite of rural and semi-urban consumers for FMCG products will mainly be responsible for this development, and manufacturers will have to deepen their concentration for higher sales volumes in such niche areas, it said.
In rural and semi-urban areas, FMCG market penetration is currently less than one per cent. This is a crucial factor because with more than 128 million households, the rural population is nearly three times the size of the urban market.
However, on the downside, rural markets are not free from problems such as low per capita disposable income (which is half the urban level), large numbers of daily wage earners, acute dependence on weather, seasonal consumption linked to harvests and festivals, poor infrastructure such as roads and power, and inaccessibility to conventional advertising media.
With more infrastructural development in the rural hinterland, the economy is all set for a further upswing.

Tips for trading e-forex

2005-08-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt, trading is more than a few quick tips for success. You need experience, fortitude, capital and, above all, a solid trading system. However, for beginners and those who perhaps are losing their focus amid significant drawdowns, keeping things simple can introduce much-needed focus into your trading.

To that end, here are 10 tips for trading e-forex that can help you get a handle on these exciting markets.

1: For small accounts especially ($25,000 and under), trade with the trend. Many beginners look for trades in any direction. While forex trading easily permits bi-directional trading, trading in the direction of the trend improves your odds over the long run.

2: Have two accounts. One real account and the other a demo account. Learning doesn't stop when trading real dollars begins. Keep the demo account and use it to test alternative trades, alternative stops, etc. For example, you can shadow your real trades with identical ones in your demo account, but widen your stops in the demo in an effort to see if you're being too conservative.

3: Stop looking for leading indicators. There aren't any. While some firms make a lot of money selling software that predicts the future, the reality is that if those products really worked, they wouldn't be giving the secret away.

4: Examine daily charts, four-hour charts and one-hour charts to time your trades. While trading at 30- and 15-minute time increments is doable, it takes a great deal of dexterity.

5: Don't trade the time frame. Trade the pattern. Reversal patterns, hesitation patterns and breakout patterns appear often. Learn to look for the pattern in any time frame.

6: If you're properly funded, trading two lots is safer than trading one. Trading three lots is safer than two. Trading is a synthesis of emotions, technical analysis and money management. One lot makes it difficult to weigh these elements in deciding to enter or exit. Two lots is easier and, providing you have the capital, three lots is optimal.

7: Extreme trading can be the most conservative trading. Trading at the extremes when prices touch or break or bounce off trend, support or resistance lines increases the odds that you have chosen the correct direction.

8: Scan the Big Five the dollar/yen, euro/dollar, Swiss franc/dollar, euro/yen and pound/dollar before you decide to take a position in any one of them. There might be something obvious you're missing.

9: Follow the Upside Down Rule. If you can turn a chart upside down and it looks the same, stay away.

10: Don't count profits in your first 20 trades. Keep track of the percentage of wins. Once you know you can pick direction, profits can be increased with multi-plot trading and variations in using your stops. In other words, now is the time to get serious about money management.

E-Commerce in India

2005-08-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

The past 2 years have seen a rise in the number of companies' embracing e-commerce technologies and the Internet in India. Most e-commerce sites have been targeted towards the NRI's with Gift delivery services, books, Audio and videocassettes e.t.c.. Major Indian portal sites have also shifted towards e-commerce instead of depending on advertising revenue. The web communities built around these portal sites with content have been effectively targeted to sell everything from event and moues tickets the grocery and computers. The major in this services being Rediff on the net (WWW.rediff.com) and India plaza with started a shopping section after their highly successful content site generated WEB visitors . Inspite of RBI regulation, low Internet usage e-commerce sites have popped up everywhere hawking things like groceries, bakery items, gifts, books, audio & videocassettes, computer e.t.c. None the major players have been deterred by the low PC penetration and credit card usage in India and have tried to close the success worldwide of online commerce. BPB publication went online selling its complete range of computer books about 2 years ago, it might not have the success of either Amazon.com of Barnes and noble. but they definitely have promised the cause of e-commerce in India with atleast 1 to 5 web sites like Indiabookshop coming online.

This is not to say that the e-commerce scenario has been bad in India as highly successful e-business like baba bazaar and India mart have proved. Indian Banks too have been very successful in adapting EC and EDI Technologies to provide customers with real time account status, transfer of funds between current and checking accounts, stop payment facilities. ICICI Bank, Global TRUST BANK AND UTI-Bank also have put their electronic banking over the internet facilities in place for the up coming e-commerce market speed post also plain to clone the federal express story with online package status at any moment in time . The future does look very bright for e-commerce in India with even the stock exchanges coming online providing a online stock portfolio and status with a fifteen minute delay in prices. The day cannot be far when with RBI regulations we will able to see stock transfer and sale over the Net with specialized services like schwab and e*trade.

Though with security and encryption being proven Technologies for transfer of funds over the Internet, the Indian Government still has problems with 'Digital signatures' and verification processes over the Internet. This combined with RBI norms and regulations has proved to a major handle for e-commerce even though VSNL India's monopolistic ISP does want to jump on to the electronic transaction bandwagon with the advent of private ISP's and India new and positive attitude towards IT and the prime ministers new 'IT policy " the future is very positive in India for doing commerce with a-e.

The Future of E-Commerce

What does the future hold for e-commerce? Many would say it is difficult to predict. The forces that determine the web's winners and losers are just taking shape and technological advances could add even more uncertainty. On the downside, some experts predict that it will be increasingly difficult for smaller companies to establish their presence. Public companies and traditional brand name retailers have deep pockets and a name recognition that will make it difficult for smaller sites and mom-and-pop shops to attract customers, thereby forcing them to compete with the big boys. On the Net, it's one big neighborhood. On the upside, nearly all experts believe that overall e-commerce will increase exponentially in coming years. Business to business transactions will represent the largest revenue. Online retailing will also enjoy a drastic growth. Areas expected to go include financial services, travel, entertainment and groceries. And for those considering opening a virtual storefront, forthcoming technology and standards agreements will make it easier to create a site, to protect it against payment fraud, and to share information with suppliers and business partners.

Ecommerce Tutorial Introduction

2005-08-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the eCommerce Tutorial.

Would you like to be able to accept secure, real time credit card transactions on your web site? Well, here's how! This tutorial will show you how to get started in the complex and exciting world of Electronic Commerce.

This is how eCommerce works.

The consumer moves through the internet to the merchant's web site. From there, he decides that he wants to purchase something, so he is moved to the online transaction server, where all of the information he gives is encrypted. Once he has placed his order, the information moves through a private gateway to a Processing Network, where the issuing and acquiring banks complete or deny the transaction. This generally takes place in no more than 5-7 seconds.

There are many different payment systems available to accommodate the varied processing needs of merchants, from those who have a few orders a day to those who process thousands of transactions daily. With the addition of Secure Socket Layer technology, eCommerce is also a very safe way to complete transactions.

There are several basic steps involved in becoming eCommerce Enabled.

*Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account
*Web Hosting
*Obtaining a Digital Certificate
*Finding a Provider of Online Transactions
*Creating or Purchasing a Shopping Cart Software

Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account

In order to be able to accept credit cards over the internet, you must apply to your bank for an Internet Merchant Bank Account. This can be relatively easy or somewhat difficult, depending on which country you live in and what bank you are with.

U.S.A.:
In the US, this is a fairly simple procedure. Many banks offer Internet Merchant Accounts, and most Online Transaction Providers will support them. See your bank for details.

International:
Since the vast majority of Online Transaction Providers are located in the US and are restricted in their ability to interact with banks outside their own country, international merchants have very little choice. An international merchant has to find a way to get a US merchant account, embark on the equally difficult task of finding a local Online Transaction Provider, or utilise one of the few companies that services the international market. Also, many banks outside the US have very restrictive policies regarding internet accounts. Luckily, the situation is improving, and most Online Transaction Providers will help you with this if you get in touch with them.

In the ratings section, I have included information on which providers give international service.

Here are some additional issues to keep in mind when you apply for a Merchant Bank Account:
*A US merchant account can take up to a month to come through.
*If you already have a merchant bank account, you will probably also need to upgrade *it to an Internet account.
*Ensure that your bank accepts Internet merchant accounts and has credit card *processors that can connect to FDC, Paymentech or CyberCash.
*Your account must be able to handle Card Not Present transactions.

Obtaining a Digital Certificate

A digital certificate, also known as a SSL Server Certificate, enables SSL (Secure Socket Layer encryption) on the web server. SSL protects communications so you can take credit card orders securely and ensure that hackers cannot eavesdrop on you. Any eCommerce company will require you to have SSL before you can use their services.

Thankfully, for most people obtaining a digital certificate is not a problem. For a minimal fee, one can usually use the certificate owned by the web hosting company where your page resides.

If you are a larger company, however, you may want to get your own digital certificate. A certificate costs about $125.00 and can be obtained from Thawte or Verisign.

Web Hosting

Web hosting is a very important step in this process, as this is how you gain a presence on the internet in the first place.

It is important that the web hosting company is capable of providing you with the level of service that you need to maintain your Web Store. A few things to look for are:
*Good uptime
*Good technical support
*Fast connection to the Net
*Staff that is knowledgable about eCommerce
*Compatibility with major eCommerce providers
It is always good to spend some time when choosing a web hosting company, as there are many 'fly-by-night' businesses out there. For the money you're spending, make sure that the company is reputable.

Finding a Provider of Online Transactions

Before you start looking for a provider, you should stop for a moment and consider what exactly you need. How many transactions do you expect to be completing in a month? How many products do you have to put on your web site? How complex does the There are a lot of online transaction providers out there, and they all have varying packages. Deciding on a provider's package that fits your needs is perhaps the most important aspect in creating an eCommerce website.

The Directory page provides a good cross section of the companies out there. It is a good idea to go through a few of them and compare their prices and services. For a quick breakdown of the most popular packages these companies provide, visit the Summary section.
Shopping Cart Software

Shopping cart software is an operating system that can be used to allow people to purchase your items, keep track of your accounts, and tie together all of the aspects of your eCommerce site into one cohesive whole.

While there are many other types of software that you can use in it's place, such as catalog software or a flat order form, shopping cart software is the most popular and the most widely known.

Many Online Transaction Providers will have shopping cart software that comes with their service, but it can often be very expensive, so be warned. If you cannot afford to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars on this software, you should be looking for a package that offers it as a rental included in the monthly service charge, or one that offers a simple flat order form.

Conclusion

eCommerce can be a very rewarding venture, but it should not be undertaken lightly. There is a lot of information to absorb. Here are some additional tips on creating a successful Online Store:

If you know nothing about web design, it is probably a good idea to hire a designer.

Marketing your site is very important on the web.
Here are some useful tips:
- Submit your site to as many search engines as possible.
- Try finding web sites with similar themes and make deals to create
reciprocal links.
- Create an advertising banner and purchase space from a popular
website to display it.
- Put your URL in the signature file of your email and the header of all
business corespondence.
- Word of mouth is very powerful on the Net; tell all of your friends
about your page.
- Avoid spamming - it is a sure way to get a very bad reputation.

Investigate the web sites that are possible rivals and formulate a strategy for competing against them.

If you anticipate a lot of growth in the amount of orders coming through your site, figure out how you are going to cope with the increased load before you get swamped.

Now that you know the basics, you should be able to make some informed decisions about how to proceed. Remember that you can ask for further advise from the company that you decide to employ.

hi to all frns

2005-08-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

hi to all frns...
this is my blog on business..i'll strive hard to provide all you people latest on business and related fields..plz comment on posts and ask your queries if any to make this site more interactive.....