LoudSpeakers

Symphony Technology Group announced recently that it was acquiring Hummingbird for $465M.  This is significant in that another ECM player is being taken off the market though Wall Street thinks that the offer amount was too low.

Hummingbird has steadily been losing market position against the mainstays over the years.  Symphony might be just the right company to turn things around.  If the acquisition closes, I wouldn’t be surprised if Symphony increased Hummingbird engineering resources with their enterprise development talent in India.  This is one company that really understands enterprise engineering.

It’s going to become increasingly difficult to be a standalone ECM player with customers buying more products from less vendors — unless you have a killer SOA play.  Many companies have tried this one form or another over the years, but I think it was always an issue of timing.  The foundation of SOA in the Content Management market makes as much sense as any other solution (if not more).  Maybe Hummingbird is the company that reinvents itself with SOA?

It’s the beginning of monsoon season in India. It just went from being constantly hot to constantly wet. It rained so hard yesterday that water forced its way into my bathroom skylight and flooded the entire top floor. There was no permament damage, but the heavy rains knocked out the already fragile energy supplies.
In July of 2005, Mumbai received 37.5 inches of rain in 24 hours. Pune, only 3.5 hours away by car, was also affected but not as severely.

Checkout the weather.com page for Pune to see what I’m talking about.

At 2:00 PM everyday here in Pune, I am reminded that the infrastructure can’t keep up with the demand.  The entire office has backup power, but like clockwork on most days there’s a “current cut” or what’s also referred to as “load-shedding.”  Apparently, the magic hour is designated downtime to reduce the strain on the city’s power supply for this part of town.  In rural parts of the country it’s not unusual for villagers will go without power for large portions of the day.

The general problem related to lack of infrastructure supply to fuel the demand is widely understood in India.  What strikes me as unusual was that the promises of the candidates from the recent elections in Tamil Nadu made little mention of advancement in infrastructure services.  Instead, people were promised 1kg of rice at $.05, 4g of gold for women, color televisions for everyone — all things that ultimately were used to prey upon the poor and uneducated.
Politicians are self-serving universally — so nothing new necessarily here.  What is appalling is the blatant disregard for improvement of municipal services that would end up helping in untold ways contrasted against a backdrop of corrupt politicians lining their own pockets.  Influence peddling is an a la carte service and politicians are the maître d’.
Which leads me to another post for another day:  there seems to be a universal corollary to having survival mentality vs. lack of civic duty.  I have noticed in places as disparate as areas of India and in country towns of South Carolina.

It appears that BarCampPune will be held on June 17th somewhere in Central Pune TBA.   It’s exciting (and a little odd) to see Indians adopt the advent of the “Bay Area Rejects” meetups.  As it stands right now, I will be in Delhi for a few days around that time before leaving to return to the States.

On the startup front, things are progressing better than I had hoped.  We’re making strategic decisions about architecture, coming up with new ideas and services based upon the foundation, and getting really excited in the process.  In some areas, we’re realizing that we have embarked upon completely new territory due to the lack of abundant public information about the subject.  It’s scary and exciting at the same time to be honest.
More as things develop…

Dan’l Lewin writes a must read article for AlwaysOn entitled, “Is India At The Tipping Point?” He writes about the rise of the Offshore Product Development company (OPD) building “whole products for their clients at about one-third the cost.” It’s not just about building products though — it’s about domain expertise. The labor arbitrage game is a no brainer bet — you always double-down when the dealer has a 6 showing and you have 10.

Dan’l also says that “I believe that OPDs are the breeding ground of future software entrepreneurs and will impact the local software ecosystem.” I agree that this will be a future trend because I am doing it right now along with others. There were brief moments when I thought about setting up my own Indian subsidiary, but why bother with what amounts to minimal cost savings when the basic hassles of running a business won’t contribute to my core competency: building disruptive software. Plus, the bureaucracy involved for a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) to setup and own an Indian business is a nightmare. Running an HR department and having to bribe people to get an internet connection sooner than later is for the birds

. At the end of the day, the fully burdened cost of running your own show in India is comparable to using an OPD. So why subject yourself to pitfalls that could be serious show stoppers? Mitigate risk early on and give your startup a chance….

I had a conversation with a friend of mine recently about the cost of goods in India.  Some things are still a bargain compared to the West.  I routinely have dinner for under $2.  Lately, I have been topping dinner off with a Falooda for an extra 60 cents.  A rather complete lunch is served for about 40 cents in the office canteen.  A ride in an auto (a motorized rickshaw, not an automobile) that would cost upwards of $5 in NYC costs about 50 cents here.  Custom tailored clothing can be less expensive than the “ready-made” alternatives.
One of the most noticeable increases here in India is in the technology field.  With 15% year over year salary increases, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for employers to retain valuable employees.  Even when the country is crankin’ out 400,000 technology workers from schools each year, the supply is simply not enough to keep up with the demand from the West.

It’s all very reminiscent of the late 90’s when technology workers in the States were jumping ship from the mainstays and heading to the .com companies in droves.  In India, workers usually have to remit 30 days notice to their current employer, but a prospective employer can acquire that notice period for some agreed sum.

The level of experience in India compared to the States is noticeably different.  Indians with vast amounts of experience are usually already in the States.  5 Years of development experience here and one is branded as a “Senior Engineer,” but it’s just the nature of the scale that exists.  A Sr. Engineer who is in search of a new job will likely have between 3-6 offers soon after being declared a free agent depending on various factors of experience and geography. Employers must be quick to make an offer knowing that the market is extremely competitive and driven largely on one thing we all understand:  personal wealth.

At the current rate that salaries are growing, within 5-7 years India will be very close, if not on par, to American software engineering salaries.  The value paradigm will shift from a model built primarily on economics of using offshore resources in developing nations to one that stresses the growing domain experience of Indian developers.  I met an Indian company recently that knows as much about the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as any US healthcare software vendor that I have ever met.  But it’s not just related to US laws and regulations — they understand our industries and they’re starting early.

I walked up to my 9 year-old cousin who was sitting at the computer busily spouting off seemingly technical jargon in his quasi-English accent.   The 9 year-old was teaching the 7 year-old HTML — hand coded.  He wasn’t using any slick Integrated Development Environment (IDE) — he was using Notepad.  And he knew more HTML than the geek who was standing behind him with his jaw on the floor.

Things to know when travelling in India:

1.  In India, a hotel isn’t necessarily a place that has rooms for overnight rental.  The word hotel is also used synonymously with the word restaurant.

2.  Chat has two meanings.  Chaat (proper spelling, pronounced ch-aught) generally means snack food.  To chat is what you do with a friend over instant messaging or the phone.
3.  A “call taxi” is just a taxi that you call to schedule pickup.

4.  Using your left hand to give someone something or eating with it can be considered slightly faux pas in some areas.

5.  An Indian that shakes his/her head in a side-to-side motion with their neck as a pivot is really expressing an affirmative even though it could appear as if their expressing negation.
6.  When accepting business cards, it’s courteous to receive the card and read it rather than immediately filing it in your front pocket.  Consider this in other parts of East Asia as well.

7.  A “love marriage” describes people who fall in love and get married.

8.  An email ID is the same thing as an email address.  In the West, we typically don’t pluralize email by adding an ’s’ although it’s not incorrect — in India, it seems to be the norm.

9.  Vegetarians abound in India.  It’s paradise for a person (like me) who seems to have a laundry list of questions to ask of waitstaff before ordering.  When they say vegetarian in this country — they’re serious.  Packaged food items are duly indicated as being vegetarian using a green dot.  Foods containing “non-veg” related items use a red dot.

10.  A red dot on a woman’s forehead has nothing to do with meat products (as noted in point 9 above).  It typically signifies that she is a married, Hindu woman who’s husband is still alive.  Young, unmarried, girls will also wear the chukkha or bindi. The position of the bindi is significant as a center of energy, according to schools of Hindu thought.  The bindi itself can be comprised of either a pinch of red holy powder or what amounts to a sticker.

Keeping cool during the summer months is key to survival in India.  Combined with the humidity, the heat can be absolutely punishing.

Tender coconuts seem to be the preferred cool-down beverage down South, but here in the North it’s lime soda — either sweetened with a syrup concoction or salted. One would think that the salted version would lead to further dehydration negating any interim benefit of a cooling effect, but the locals seem to buy into it.

At my Uncle’s place in Coimbatore, a man would come by every evening and climb up one of several coconut trees in the backyard to fetch one tender coconut for each person.  He then uses a sickle to lop off the top creating a convenient opening from which one imbibes.

I’m in Pune, Maharastra for an extended period of time before visiting Delhi and then returning back to the States. I’m here working with a group of software engineers on my startup. Things are getting off to a good start — more on that subject as things evolve later.

Pictured above is the view from the balcony of the house where I am staying. The white bungalow in the foothills belongs to the Mayor apparently.

This is Hemant. He doesn’t speak very much English and I speak neither Marathi nor Hindi with the exception of all the bad words, but we somehow manage. Hemant is the caretaker of the house and visits every morning and prepares breakfast, etc. Most North Indians, unlike South Indians, prefer chai over coffee and as a result, I have been drinking much more of it than I typically do in the States. There’s an instant chai/coffee machine in the office that makes a fantastic cup of cardomom chai. You would never know that it came from a machine.

Overall, I like Pune. Not unlike the rest of India, the people are quite friendly. Quite a few technology companies have setup shop here and in Bangalore. Pune is emerging as the next best alternative to Bangalore considering the high cost of living there now.

That’s another subject entirely for a different day —- India is getting expensive on a number of levels because of the gold rush. The weak American dollar doesn’t help either though. I feel sorry for the millions of already poor Indians because things will just get more expensive for them without getting better first. At some point in the next decade, Africa will be the only place left to use as outsource venues.

I had a heart-felt conversation with a special someone several months ago about why I chose entrepreneurship as the next path in my career. I know that being an entrepreneur means freedom on various levels, but being a successful entrepreneur also means being able to make significant differences in the name of humanity. I will always admire the Gates Foundation for such efforts and hope to proportionally accomplish the same.
I found out recently that I didn’t need to be a successful entrepreneur with my new startup to make a difference. I found a case while I was in Coimbatore, India of a six month old child who was born with a hole in his/her heart. I never met the child or the parents, but I can only imagine their distress to think that their infant would die prematurely because they could not afford the cost of heart surgery. The parents are field workers who likely won’t earn enough in the course of a year to cover the expenses of the operation or the resultant hospital care.

Needless to say, the child underwent heart surgery and is recovering well. They don’t know who I am nor will they ever meet me. This experience solidifies what I already knew about myself: I was put on Earth to help people.

I tell you this because I realize the importance of helping people in a more direct manner rather than through an intermediary organization like the United Way where significant administrative costs are incurred. And it feels good.

May 8th marks the election day for the position of Chief Minister for the State of Tamil Nadu, India. I’m watching closely because I’m fascinated with some of the circumstances of the event.

What do George Bush, Silvio Burlusconi, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, and Muthuvel Karunanidhi have in common? They have significant influence over or direct ownership in major media outlets in their respected regions that has contributed to their political aspirations and disparate wealth compared to their constituents.
George Bush doesn’t own Fox News, but it would be hard to question his influence over the station, it’s reporters, and overall political stance. It has become the mouth-piece of the White House over the years, but the separation of the two parties gives average Americans the perception of “fair and balanced” reporting. Indeed, we know that it’s not.

Nor is Jayalalithaa’s Jaya TV fair and balanced. She doesn’t even bother to hide the fact that she owns the station and directs a disproportionate amount of time towards her agenda rather than fairly distributed airtime for all candidates.

Burlusconi, who resigned recently as PM of Italy, along with his family own the Finnivest Group, making him Italy’s richest person and the 25th richest person in the entire world. Without a doubt, his interest in major Italian media outlets has contributed in unfair ways to his dominance in politics.

Back to Tamil Nad — Karunanidhi’s family no longer owns a significant portion of Sun TV, but his relationship to the media giant is unquestionable. One doesn’t make a clean break after significant ownerhip with an organization as large as Sun TV.

Frankly, I’m appalled that the Italians and Indians allow for such obvious conflicts of interest.  A new candidate hardly has a fighting chance against wealthy incumbents who own multiple forms of media outlets including newspapers.  Nor does can a new candidate with little financial resources compete against much wealthier opponents who promise colour televisions to entire state.  But it doesn’t end there:  Not to be one-upped, Jayalalithaa promises an engineering college in every district.

Preying on the poor and uneducated with half-assed promises through self-owned media outlets for political gain is simply criminal.  And I thought it was only American politicians that had their own interests in mind.

I’m in Coimbatore, India for a few days after Bangalore to catch-up with some relatives before heading North. I was finally able to upload some photos after being broadband deprived for the past few days.

Pictured above is Pete Deemer, CPO of Yahoo, talking about agile project management at BarCampBangalore held at the Yahoo Bangalore offices on April 21st.

Pictured above is Chad Dickerson who also works for Yahoo talking about “Yahoo Hack Day.”

Pictured above is an old school wiki.

More photos from BarCamp here.

I was in Bangalore this past weekend for BarCampBangalore and I can honestly say:  It was one of the most worthwhile events I have attented in quite some time.  I met some very nice and intelligent folks who I will blog about when I can find something other than dial-up.  I had the good fortune of meeting people who I consider to be current and future leaders of the technology movement that we currently find ourselves a part of.  Pete Deemer, Chief Product Officer of Yahoo, lead a discussion on Scrum project management wrappers that essentially pushed me over the fence as to whether to implement such for my new venture or not.  After hearing him speak, I can think of no other way to efficiently come to market.  BarCampBangalore was that important and I’m glad that I attended.

I’m currently in the remote interior of South India where broadband isn’t quite so common, so it’s near impossible to upload any photographs and such though I have taken quite a few already.  It’s hotter than Hedes at the moment here and the humidity is equally as brutal.  Most adult Indians don’t wear shorts in the South (though they should really give it a try) but I have been pushing the bounds by wearing them anyway. 

No doubt, it’s true and predicted to rise.  Add me to list of 800 Americans seeking opportunity in India.  Rather ironic, no?  Hundreds of thousands of Indians flock to the West seeking H1B visas or even better — permanent residency while scores of Westerners line-up to invest in India.  That’s globalization and I love it to the core.  Free trade (of labor amongst other things) and exchange of ideas is part of what constitutes a democracy to me.

Linky: Americans seeking jobs opportunities in Bangalore

BarCampChennai was held this weekend in uh, well, Chennai.  I was originally planning on attending since I was to be there for other business, but unforseen circumstances delayed my arrival.  It looks like it was indeed informative and fun.  Hopefully, I will be in India for the next unconference.  It’s amazing how the BarCamp phenomenon has spread to India.