Awareness Campaign : Information on IT Modernisation Project

Respected Sir,

In our  endeavor  to reach out to every employee of the Department of Posts, we are launching an Awareness Campaign on IT Modernisation Project. 

Please find below the link for campaign flyer " Information on IT Modernisation Project" in vernacular languages.

Click to View : Awareness Campaign : India Post Change Management

The purpose of this campaign is to spread the most essential information about IT Modernisation Project across the employees of the Department. Sir, we request you to 

-- upload the flyer on your blogs and websites
-- get the flyer printed in monthly news letters
-- use the flyer in the meetings conducted by you

via : http://ruralpostalemployees.blogspot.in/

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India is now world’s third largest Internet user after U.S., China

Three-fourths of its online population is under 35, says comScore report

India has bypassed Japan to become the world’s third largest Internet user after China and the United States, and its users are significantly younger than those of other emerging economies, global digital measurement and analytics firm comScore has said in a report.

India now has nearly 74 million Internet users, a 31 per cent increase over March 2012, the report says.

The numbers are lower than other recent estimates, possibly reflecting comScore’s methodology that only factors in PC and laptop-based Internet usage.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) pegged the number of Internet subscribers in India at 164.81 million as of March 31, 2013, with seven out of eight accessing the Internet from their mobile phones.

The comScore report, on the other hand, puts mobile and tabled-based Internet traffic at just 14% of the total.

“Mobile phone based Internet usage is a key component of Indian Internet usage, and I’d say the recent growth is being driven by mobile Internet usage,” Nilotpal Chakravarti, spokesperson of the Internet and Mobile Association of India told The Hindu on Thursday. In addition, many Netizens were using dongles to access the Internet.

Three-fourths of India’s online population is under 35 as against just over half worldwide, the comScore report, India Digital Future in Focus 2013, says, possibly reflecting India’s more recent improvements in literacy.

Men under 35 and women between 35 and 44 are heavier users. But women account for less than 40 per cent of all Indian users, a far lower sex ratio than that of other countries.

A quarter of time spent online is on social media, the comScore report says, and another 23 per cent on email.

While Google sites have the most unique visitors, Net users spend the most time on Facebook, which is at second place as far as unique visitors are concerned.

Yahoo, Microsoft and Wikimedia sites follow in unique visitor numbers.

Among social media sites, Linkedin and Twitter are the next most popular, while Orkut is in decline. Google is by far the most popular search engine, accounting for 90 per cent of all searches in India.

Online retail is on the rise, with domestic retail sites being the most popular, the report notes. For online travel websites too, domestic websites are the most popular, the Indian Railways’ website being by far the most popular destination. Yahoo is also the most popular site for news.

The locus of online dominance has moved steadily towards Asia, which now accounts for 41% of all Internet users; from having 66% of all users in 1996, the United States now accounts for just 13%.

China has the world’s biggest online presence; Its Internet users outnumber Indians by a ratio of 5: 1. Brazil’s Internet presence grew faster than India’s over the last year.

Source :  The Hindu dtd 24/08/2013

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Before wireless, there was Ethernet

This year, the Ethernet protocol — the standard way of connecting proximal machines before the world went wireless — turned 40.

Over the years, the Ethernet has adapted itself to every evolving technology, whether it is high speed networks or now, the Internet of Things (IOT).

In an interview with The Hindu, Wael Diab, Vice-chairperson of the Institution of Electronics and Electrical Engineers’s Ethernet Working Group, spoke about how the protocol, which was created to merely connect computer devices using radio-like signals over an antenna cable, has evolved much past its LAN (Local Area Network) days. Excerpts:

Q. Why has the Ethernet been so successful?

A. Two things: convergence and leverage. For instance, in the past, typically, there was broadband access, research government establishments and the enterprise, all of which had different infrastructure; but they converged. That allowed for higher volumes at lower costs and eliminated unnecessary protocol conversions, because if you don’t have to go between Ethernet and something else, then you don’t have to get a new box to manage the network.

We also have architectural convergence — probably the thing the business community understands is that there is a well-understood maturity curve. People know that over a period of the Ethernet, costs will come down and take higher volumes, so they’re confident about what we do.

Is that at the core of why the Ethernet was able to adapt with mind-bogglingly rapid changes in technology?

It’s hard to tell whether the maturity curve came first that made it successful or the other. Say we adapted well first, but the fact that it has been able to adapt itself to all the changing requirements is behind the success. And architecturally, we try to do this in a simple way, without having more than one solution for a particular problem.

The leverage part is important too as it gives a lot of free technologies such as a lot of speed and cost point and media leverage, and energy efficiency. The same leverage operates at the system and subsystem level. It’s the same tech that can be used and re-used, irrespective of what industry it is being used in.

But, how did the IEEE ensure that the standard adapts or evolves?

People talk about new applications. What’s key is the basic requirements such as Quality of Service (QoS) and bandwidth. Now, we’re moving beyond that and looking at meeting new requirements such as like time-sensitive networking and the fact that we've introduced energy-efficient Ethernet.

And today, it is insane to not address operational costs. For example, Google did a study that showed that in 2 to 5 years, the cost of powering equipment will dwarf the cost of buying equipment. Research at Stanford has shown that data centre energy usage by 2010 is 1.5 per cent of total energy consumption on the planet. So, naturally there’s a lot of interest in energy-efficient Ethernet.

Is energy efficiency an important focus for this standards group?

Fifty years ago, when you went to purchase a car you didn’t ask about energy efficiency. Today, it’s the topmost priority. Now, finally, networks have come to par. And it’s only natural. Today, in a world where people are more connected and we have the Internet of Things, networking is no more about a facility where computers are connected.

As we keep upping the speed factor, are there material challenges that need to be solved?

There are. First of all, as you’re trying to attain higher speeds you’re pushing the limits of what you’re trying to do. Typically, people think about wireless challenges, but indeed we have greater challenges in the wired world and there’s lot of work to be done.

What are the biggest challenges the IOT faces?

The biggest challenge for IOT is that we have to agree on what to do – there are different areas such as medical, machine-to-machine, energy. Basically, you're exchanging information in so many ways, and it's a tremendous amount of information involved. As you go from merely collecting information and transmitting it, to action and automation, you need to be able to make these systems talk to each other. So how do I make them talk, how do I automate them and how do I not compromise my privacy: these are key challenges.

Is there a need to evolve standards for the IOT, given the general variation in the industry?

Generally, you do standards when there's tonnes of variation and this is introducing costs and prohibiting innovation. In the case of IOT, absolutely. Today, there are many, many different solutions for everything. What we need to do is innovate on top of standards.

Take mobile phones, for instance. If every time we innovate with a gadget we ignore wi-fi standards and go ahead and reinvent the wheel, then we don’t have the resources to do what matters or what consumers wants.

So, yes – I am a bit biased – and I’ll say there's a need for standards around IOT. And given it's a complex topic, different standards organisations will have to sit together and do this.

Source : The Hindu
[ http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/before-wireless-there-was-ethernet/article4986158.ece ]

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