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outsourcing, msps and .net
 Outsourcing
isn't new. The practice has been around for quite a while.
In fact, it has been there since the 18th century, the days
of Industrial Revolution, when assembly lines were created
for mass production.
Back then, it were the industrialists who outsourced the production
of certain components of a final product. The objective was
twofold: cut costs and increase productivity. In fact most
of these manufacturing companies have perfected the art of
outsourcing to the T, so much so that some now outsource the
manufacturing of the entire product and just label the products
with their brand names.
Then came the high-tech age, and with PC makers outsourcing
certain components
of a PC, outsourcing remained an ever-popular concept. In
fact, the Indian software industry, by being at the other
end of the outsourcing spectrum, reaped rich benefits thanks
to outsourcing of software projects by multi-nationals. All
along, the key driver behind outsourcing has been: cut costs
and increase productivity.
Now outsourcing has taken a new name, MSP (or Management Service
Provider) companies that manage your backend IT infrastructure.
These companies even provide the infrastructure, the resources
and skilled manpower for a fixed fee.
In India, MSPs are still coming of age with just one or two
'pure-play' MSPs in the fray. Others, like Satyam, Wipro,
are slowly migrating from offering ASP or Web hosting services
to managing networks for corporates.
For this month's cover story on Management Services, Brian
Pereira, our man of many 'tasks,' talked to few industry analysts,
as well as some companies many of whom are in various stages
of setting up operations here (refer to page 26 for a detailed
list of MSPs and the services they offer) to get a clearer
picture of the MSP scenario in India. As Brian puts it: "MSPs
have two core issues to tackle trust and proven expertise
before they gain acceptability as reliable partners to do
business with."
In another section of this issue we dissect .NET, Microsoft's
latest initiative to enslave the Web, the last standing bastion
of free speech. What is .NET all about? Is it some more hype?
Will it really change the way we perceive or experience the
Web? Bhavish Sood, our contributing tech writer, delves deep
into Microsoft's .NET strategy the framework, the products,
the protocols, et al. Brian spoke to key independent software
vendors (ISVs) who are participating in Microsoft's .NET partner
program.
These ISVs are presently developing proof-of-concept applications
to showcase their capabilities.
If all this interests you, jump straight ahead to our new
Tech Briefing section and indulge yourself in .NET.
Meanwhile, our team here at Network Magazine - The Indian
Edition, gets cracking on the next issue.
Do write in and tell us about your likes/dislikes on
this one.
Sandeep Ajgaonkar,
Assistant Editor
sandeepa@vsnl.com
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