Wipro, Axway Collaborate to Offer B2Bi, EDI Managed Services as SaaS

India's Wipro Technologies and Axway (a US-based software company) have collaborated to provide business-to-business integration (B2Bi) and electronic data interchange (EDI) managed services to clients through Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. The strategic alliance will assist clients to focus on core operations; it will deploy IT applications on the basis of pay-as-you-go pricing and lower maintenance and IT skills preservation. With the partnership, clients of both the companies will not be required to apply for upfront software license or pay upgraded fees. The Wipro-Axway solution will allow clients to outsource their non-core business operations, streamline processes, enhance efficiencies, and decrease cost of ownership as well as capture and track critical events across their extended supply chains. Depending on clients’ requirements and Internet-based or cloud computing initiatives, Wipro can either host Axway's software or handle client’s B2B and EDI operations. In addition, the combined solution will cover business process management, business activity monitoring, and rapid partner onboarding. The companies foresee B2Bi as SaaS to have a strong growth potential. Industry analysts expect an increase of about 50 percent on worldwide B2B gateways, and an increase of 100 percent in B2B outsourcing. The market is expected to touch approximately USD 3 billion within 4–5 years.

Welcome to Silicon Valley of Joy, ‘no talk of Nano please’

Finally the city of joy is emerging as a new hot bed for IT outsourcing. It is finally standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Shanghai and Beijing. If indications are anything to go by, soon Kolkata will emerge as the new Silicon Valley from east. Let’s forget the Nano saga. Avinash Vashistha founded IT outsourcing research firm Tholons and Global Services have announced the top 50 emerging outsourcing cities of the world in 2008. China was leading with six cities on the list, followed by India and the Philippines with four cities each. The list reveals India losing its position in the outsourcing industry to competitors including China and the Philippines. As per 2007 rankings, India was leading with six cities in the top 50 list.

Cebu has been recognized as the leading emerging destination for outsourcing in 2008 as compared to Chennai in 2007. The results will enable outsourcers to start outsourcing/offshoring beyond India. The top 10 emerging global outsourcing cities include Cebu, Shanghai, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Krakow, Kolkata, Cairo, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Shenzhen.

The study also stated that the key deciding factors for outsourcers in choosing an outsourcing location include the strengths of individual cities, available resources, and long-term potential in fulfilling demand for specific services. Meanwhile, India retained its leading position as six top global outsourcing cities were Indian; these included Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune.

Fallout of the bidding war for SAP firm Axon

At the end of August Indian IT giant Infosys offered £407.1m to buy UK-based services outfit Axon Group, and Axon's directors recommended that shareholders accept the offer. But yesterday they changed their minds and told shareholders to instead vote for a rival offer from HCL Technologies which values Axon at £441m.

When Axon first received the offer from HCL it went into a 60-hour freeze period, as per its agreement with Infosys, during which the board could not change its recommendation. That period is now over.

"Axon and HCL have enjoyed a long-standing relationship," said Axon.

"The Board is pleased that HCL has recognised the quality of the Axon business and has announced its intention to make an offer. The HCL Offer values Axon's existing issued and to be issued (fully diluted) share capital at approximately £441m. The value of the HCL Offer is at a premium of 8.3 per cent to the value of the Infosys Offer."

A spokeswoman for Infosys said the company is in a quiet period ahead of its quarterly results on 10 October. It had previously urged Axon shareholders to wait until then before making a decision.