South Korea aims to export a record US$10.7 billion worth of software in 2011 as local companies make inroads into the global information technology (IT) service sector, the government said Monday.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said exports could jump 17.1 percent on-year as software companies become more competitive on the international market by offering reliable programs that meet overseas requirements.

“The forecast growth is due to large conglomerates, such as Samsung SDS, seeking to sell their IT service software in overseas markets compared to focusing on domestic sales in the past,” said Jeong Marn-ki, head of the ministry’s information technology industry office.

IT service software, such as operating systems, is currently dominated by global giants like Microsoft and Oracle.

The official said if all goes according to plan, outbound shipments of IT service software could soar 36 percent to $1.4 billion, with sales of so-called package and embedded software products posting solid gains this year after expanding steadily in the past.

Jeong said South Korea’s software market will grow 8.4 percent vis-a-vis 2010 to reach 41.4 trillion won ($37.1 billion). The increase is far greater than the 4.5 percent growth being forecast for the global software sector as a whole.

Jeong also said Seoul will spend more than 214 billion won this year to encourage software-related research and development, infrastructure building and training of experts.

“The amount is significant because Seoul spent just 280 billion won from 2003 through 2010 to assist the software field,” he said.

The official said money will be allocated to help develop next-generation mobile software and programs that can improve energy efficiency and national defense.

Other areas that will receive support are human-computer interaction, quality improvement and product certification, with 23.2 billion won to be used to train 3,520 IT workers.

Jeong said because software users demand reliability, more effort will be made to refer locally developed programs to such specialized agencies as Gartner and IDC.

Source:http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/02/18/75/0502000000AEN20110218007500320F.HTML

During the day, B Nirmal creates software in his college lab. In the evening, he plays with cobras and vipers. Not animated serpents on computer screens, but with real, live, lethal cobras. A postgraduate student in software systems, Nirmal handles cobras the way you’d cradle a cute pup.

“I love nature and snakes much more than my computer,” says the GRD college student, holding a Russell’s viper one of the most venomous snakes in Asia in his left hand. Nirmal and two other software students are now the city’s most sought-after snake rescuers.

When snakes slither into a household, people no longer summon traditional snake catchers. Instead, they call up software students Nirmal, S Ranjith and B Ramachandran.

Every month, they rescue at least 20 snakes from the backyards of houses, apartment complexes and farms. From the cobra and common krait to the saw-scaled viper and Russell’s viper, they have rescued venomous snakes from several places in Coimbatore and released them in forests.

“We have rescued at least 150 snakes, including 40 venomous snakes, in the last year and let them off into the forest areas,” says Ranjith, an MCA student of RVS College of Arts and Science. They also conduct awareness drives on snakes in colleges and factories.

These students are driven by their love for nature, inspired by the greenery and wildlife in and around Coimbatore. “When I touched a snake for the first time, I was really scared. But now I have developed a passion for them. I am still wary of venomous snakes. I let Nirmal and Ranjith handle them,” says Ramachandran, a postgraduate student of GRD college.

Nirmal, who can capture even the most venomous serpent in less than two minutes, is their snake master’. When he was barely 10 years old, Nirmal learnt to handle snakes during a nature awareness programme conducted at an ashram near the city.

“Initially, I used a stick with a steel hook to pick snakes. After a few months of training, I learnt to hold the snake in my hands. Catching venomous snakes is a real challenge,” says Nirmal. The knack of capturing a snake lies in catching it by the tail. In the case of a venomous snake, the reptile has to be rotated till it sheds its fangs, he says.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Software-students-by-day-snake-catchers-by-night/articleshow/7536828.cms

Lawson Software announced the general availability of Lawson Fashion PLM on the Cloud, which offers fashion companies a lower entry cost to product lifecycle management software. Lawson Fashion PLM is a collaborative, web-based solution that helps support the design and development of fashion products from concept to sourcing. Specific software modules include Line Optimizer, Storyboard, Fabric & Trim, Product Manager, Workflow and Source.

Because it is deployed via the Amazon EC2 cloud infrastructure, Lawson Fashion PLM on the Cloud helps make it easier for fashion companies to extend or reduce their use of the application and computer processing power as their business and requirements change. Deployment on Amazon’s EC2 global infrastructure helps reduce an organization’s own technology infrastructure needs and helps deliver business benefits more rapidly because cloud deployment helps support faster implementation.

Lawson is offering Fashion PLM customers greater choice in deployment options, including traditional on-premise deployment or the new cloud-based delivery option. Customers also have greater choice in how they pay for the software, with subscription-based pricing or traditional perpetual licensing available. Subscription based licensing offers a lower upfront investment, which can help companies allocate working capital to other projects. In addition, Lawson customers that choose subscription-based pricing can have the option to convert to a perpetual license at a later date.

“Lawson Fashion PLM on the Cloud helps simplify software ownership because customers do not need to worry about the hardware and system management – Lawson takes care of that for them through the Amazon infrastructure,” said Frédéric Champalbert, general manager of Fashion for Lawson. “Customers deploying Fashion PLM on the Cloud also benefit because they access their applications via a stable and secure Amazon platform with flexible computing power and 99.95% uptime.”

The Lawson Fashion PLM on the Cloud subscription-based service includes license, maintenance, support and managed services. As part of the Fashion PLM on the Cloud subscription package, Lawson Cloud Services deploys fix packs, service packs and upgrades, helping fashion companies focus their time and energy on developing new apparel products and accessories.

“Lawson Fashion PLM on the Cloud demonstrates we are listening to the market and delivering innovative solution to help fashion companies,” added Champalbert. “Lawson Fashion PLM on the Cloud offers advantages over a traditional SaaS or hosted solution and is simpler to own, implement and use.”

Source:http://www.cadcamnews.in/2011/02/lawson-software-introduces-cloud-based.html