Thursday, September 18, 2008
Bangalore and it's extremes
Bangalore is a city in southern India and the capital of Karnataka State, it is the fastest growing metropolis in India. Bangalore is called the Silicon Valley because of the largest number of Information Technology companies; like Wipro Systems, Infosys Technologies Limited and Tata. India is marginalizing themselves by sending their best and brightest to work in software companies like indentured technoserfs, meaning they are paid low wages and are bound by contracts. Indian professionals work for as little as 4 to 5 times lower than their American counterparts. Each of these three companies have seen revenue grow 30 to 50 percent every year for the last 5 years, as opposed to Western companies revenue which has flatten or declined. In the mid 1980’s about 70 colleges in India admitted about 5,000 students into IT and computer science programs. Today 250,000 new students at 1,750 colleges enter undergraduate and master’s programs in computer science and electrical engineering. While another 100,000 students enroll in mechanical, civil and chemical engineering programs.
This is a new phenomenon for India, just go to Church Street and have coffee in a canteen and get a new software job. Silicon Valley style is an upward mobility and is shocking to Indian executives brought up in the tradition of feudal loyalty to employers.
According to the book "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman, he takes a tour of one of Indian's information technology companies and interviews the company's CEO, Nandan Nilekani's.
Nilekani explains that over the past few years there has been a massive investment in technology, where hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in putting into place broadband connectivity all over the world, where undersea cables have been constructed and computers becoming more affordable to everyone a demand for software, email and search engines like Google have been in great demand. Meaning that when all these things put together they "created a platform where intellectual work, intellectual capital, could be delievered from anywhere." It is a whole new way of freedom to how work gets done.
In essence Infosys Technologies is an outsourcing company and the most prestige technology company of India. They created a base where it is possible for all knowledge centers all over the world can conference in together, a meeting of the minds! In other words Global networking.
What is amazing about Infosys Technologies is its location. It is located forty minutes from the heart of Banaglore and is reached by pockmarked roads with scarecrows along side, horse-drawn carts and motorized richshaws. Once you enter Infosys you are in a completely different world... Just take a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFCN4iU-hI
Keep in mind now how beautiful Infosys Technologies camp is but the reality of India is it has the world’s largest underclass and a quarter of its one billion people live below poverty line with a 40% of illiteracy. The child malnutrition rate exceeds that of sub-Saharan Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbiC8OrZSz4
This is amazing because now countries like India are able to compete for global knowledge work as never before and the United States is being challenged in keeping up with technologies, but one must be able to see the whole picture which is even in a third world country where technology innovation is occuring and advances are being made is this helping the gap between the rich and poor widen and on a global level who will come out on top and be ahead of this Digital World?
This is a new phenomenon for India, just go to Church Street and have coffee in a canteen and get a new software job. Silicon Valley style is an upward mobility and is shocking to Indian executives brought up in the tradition of feudal loyalty to employers.
According to the book "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman, he takes a tour of one of Indian's information technology companies and interviews the company's CEO, Nandan Nilekani's.
Nilekani explains that over the past few years there has been a massive investment in technology, where hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in putting into place broadband connectivity all over the world, where undersea cables have been constructed and computers becoming more affordable to everyone a demand for software, email and search engines like Google have been in great demand. Meaning that when all these things put together they "created a platform where intellectual work, intellectual capital, could be delievered from anywhere." It is a whole new way of freedom to how work gets done.
In essence Infosys Technologies is an outsourcing company and the most prestige technology company of India. They created a base where it is possible for all knowledge centers all over the world can conference in together, a meeting of the minds! In other words Global networking.
What is amazing about Infosys Technologies is its location. It is located forty minutes from the heart of Banaglore and is reached by pockmarked roads with scarecrows along side, horse-drawn carts and motorized richshaws. Once you enter Infosys you are in a completely different world... Just take a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFCN4iU-hI
Keep in mind now how beautiful Infosys Technologies camp is but the reality of India is it has the world’s largest underclass and a quarter of its one billion people live below poverty line with a 40% of illiteracy. The child malnutrition rate exceeds that of sub-Saharan Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbiC8OrZSz4
This is amazing because now countries like India are able to compete for global knowledge work as never before and the United States is being challenged in keeping up with technologies, but one must be able to see the whole picture which is even in a third world country where technology innovation is occuring and advances are being made is this helping the gap between the rich and poor widen and on a global level who will come out on top and be ahead of this Digital World?
