On-chip XML query processing

Seems like XML processing on chip is finally being announced as per this link: Cover Pages: XML Silicon: The Tarari Random Access XML (RAX) Content Processor - RAX Content Processor which can "easily process millions of XPaths per second. It would really be interesting to see the exact conditions under which this is likely to work.

3 years back bunch of us (who started a incubation company at IITB for this purpose) wanted to put XML processing on chip for different reason: To evolve a standard that will free embedded system designers from the UI related dependencies, and allow a universal access mechanism to any device from any other device such as PDA. We couldn't take it to funding stage, but all the same, we had envisaged an XML based standard for the same.

Such is life.

Infosys and IBM in India compared (rediff article)

Infosys versus IBM: Converging? is a good read to get a quick overview of the scenario about how IBM India compare. Key conclusions:

1. Overall, the gross profit margin of IBM stands at 40.6 per cent. But if one were to exclude the profit contribution from the products segment, IBM's global services margins stand at 25.2 per cent. This, when compared to Infosys' margin at 47.6 per cent, is definitely lower. While we expect Infosys' margins to decline in the future, the company is gradually moving up the value chain and to that extent the rate of decline will be slower.

2. While we are not sure whether $1 billion of revenues is 'the' threshold limit. Surely, it will enable Infosys to showcase its ability while bidding for larger contracts in the future. At the end of the day, the company already has a proven track record of delivering services for over 15 years now. So, the long-term growth prospects, from this perspective, are encouraging.

With recent $750 million 10-year deal from Bharati Televentures, IBM is definitely inching towards a top player. But Infosys, with its $1 billion revenues, will start competing at world level.

We could say that global competition has come home now. All the more pressure on "the very best performance" from companies in India.

skalmadi.org: An active site with blogs and all that!!

http://www.skalmadi.org/ is actually one of the nice sites with Pune
centric news. I even found reference to recent Gate's stamp of approval
on blogs and explaining the concept to visitors!

You can also see a digitally created picture of Sushma Swarag with
shaven head.

-Vinod

Recent lift failure incident in Pune (and Quality issues in software/hardware systems)

Baselinemag is a good site for project management related community. The article from Baseline Magazine Why Software Quality Matters gives some actual cases where software quailty problem led to lives getting lost.

Considering that a lift failed in one of the societies in Pune (see Indian Express article here) and ended up killing a person, the incident ought to have been discussed in technical circles, and a strong quality demand should have been raised by the public. But nothing like that happened except for some journalistic rumblings in that area.

I was recently talking to an engineer who attends to our lift, to get details of how it failed (that lift was of different company). He said the its design was not known to be good one. For example, all sensors need to be in series circuit, and should have high DC voltage to make sure that fuse trips in case of any sensor failure. (It seems OTIS uses 33 volts - and this is better than industry standard.)

He also added that any such fuse tripping results in no electricity to Motor, and so the lift gets suspended wherever it is. He said that this was much better approach than, say, bringing the lift to nearest floor. I was convinced. This guy (98-99 BE Mech from Satara) was indeed of that "quality mindset" - not just theory or "I am doing my job" approach.

-Vinod

A place for random thoughts

It would have been nice if blogger provided categories. Other two blogs I maintain are topic specific (i-am-that and wiki-thoughts) and meant to capture some-what longer rants. This one would be useful to post any URL that I come across, and perhaps results of research etc from diverse areas.

Like, I am trying to get a sense of good design for sofa sets in my house. As usual, google image search is your friend. But I also found that shopping sites such as http://www.overstock.com/ are useful. Unfortunately, in India, you can't procure these. You can only let yourself be influenced by these designs, and hopefully get some local house to help you out in its creation.