Posted by admin under: Electronics & Electrical; Technical Articles.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and engineers at U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments Inc. have jointly developed a new microprocessor technology so efficient, the days of dying batteries in wireless telephones, implantable medical devices and even sensors used by the military may very well be numbered.
The processor design uses just three-tenths of a volt — about 70 percent less voltage than the most efficient technologies currently on the market, according to Anantha Chandrakasan, the project supervisor.
“We expect this technology will extend the battery lifetime for a wide range of portable electronic devices, particularly in areas like implantable medical devices,” said Chandrakasan, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “However, we also foresee it being used in wireless telephones and in devices used by the U.S. military.”
The four-person research team also includes MIT graduate students Yogesh Ramadass, Naveen Verma and Joyce Kwong, who presented the team’s work February 5 at the prestigious International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. They collaborated on the project with Texas Instruments engineers Markus Koesler, Korbinian Huber and Hans Moormann.
The key to improving a microcontroller’s energy efficiency is fairly straightforward, according to Chandrakasan. “We knew that if we could reduce the power consumed by an electronic device, then we could extend the battery’s lifetime significantly. The best way to do that is to reduce the power voltage that the processor requires to complete a function,” Chandrakasan said. “While the rest of the industry is making microcontrollers that consume one volt of power, we decided to take it down to just [three-tenths of a volt] —we pushed it to the extreme — because we knew that if we could reduce the voltage that much, then we could get it to something in between.”
Yet accomplishing this proved difficult because existing microcontrollers have been designed for many years to operate at a power threshold of around one volt. (Transistors, which are embedded into microcontrollers and serve as the fundamental building blocks for computers and other electronic devices, require power fluctuations to switch on and off. A microcontroller’s ability to turn on and off is what allows it to store the binary data — numeral sequences, usually comprised of ones and zeroes — that is the foundation of computing.)
According to Chandrakasan, imperfections in the silicon used to create a microcontroller become more noticeable at very low voltages, and thus, more problematic. “When you scale voltages, the first thing to break on the chip is the memory. So, we redesigned the memory and logic circuits to operate at [three-tenths of a volt],” he said.
The team solved this problem by introducing numerous design techniques, among them changing the number of transistors in the memory cell from six to eight and integrating a high-efficiency direct current-to-direct current power converter. The latter reduces the voltage to the lower level right on the chip, thus reducing the number of separate components needed.
Currently, the new microcontroller technology is a proof of concept — usually considered a milestone on the way to the development of a fully functioning prototype — but the researchers are optimistic that within five years, the technology could become available commercially for use in implantable medical devices like pacemakers, in wireless-phone video decoders and in various military applications, including battlefield sensor networks and in soldiers’ personal-health monitors.
Researchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — a bureau of the United States Department of Defense that develops technology for use by the U.S. military, and which helped fund the MIT project — are interested in boosting the lifespan of small, portable-electronic devices, such as medical electronics.
Chandrakasan envisions that some applications, such as pacemakers or sensors used by the military to monitor soldiers’ health, would operate not on battery power but on a person’s ambient energy, or that generated by an individual’s own body movement.
“Those are the key applications,” he said. “It is very possible that this technology could be used in acoustic sensors to detect sounds on the battlefield and in soldiers’ personal health monitors.”
Texas Instruments chief scientist Dennis Buss hailed the technology as “innovative and exciting,” and predicted that it would lead to the development of an entire new family of products, particularly medical electronics.
“One of the applications that [Texas Instruments] is working on that I believe this technology is most suitable for is an epilepsy-detection scheme, but you could also see it in devices used to predict heart attacks,” Buss said. “Today, if you want to check your heart, you have to visit your doctor. But in the future, it is very possible that a patient will just wear a heart-monitoring device continuously — one that is powered by his or her own body movement — and it will transmit data back to the person’s doctor.
“It presents tremendous promise for microelectronics and Texas Instruments is very proud to be a part of what Dr. Chandrakasan and his team of researchers are doing.”
Chandrakasan, who was born in India and moved to the United States when he was 14 years old, has taught at MIT since September 1994. He received bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989, 1990 and 1994. His research interests include micro-power-digital and mixed-signal, integrated-circuit design; wireless-microsensor-system design; ultra-wideband radios and emerging technologies.
Chandrakasan has received numerous honors and commendations during his career, including the 1993 Best Tutorial Paper Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. Communications Society, the National Science Foundation Career Development Award and the IBM Faculty Development Award — both in 1995, and the National Semiconductor Faculty Development Award in 1996 and 1997.
In April 1992, the Journal of Solid-State Circuits — a periodical issued by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers — published an article co-authored by Chandrakasan, University of California professor Robert W. Brodersen and former U.C.-Berkeley professor S. Sheng. Titled “Low-Power CMOS Digital Design,” the article remains the second-most-cited ever published in the journal, and is still the most recent of any article frequently cited from the journal.
Source and Courtesy : indianewengland
Posted by admin under: TOEFL.
For most people this question is irrelevant, as most people know many Universities or colleges will specify which test you must take. Most institutions will accept one but not the other, although the number of schools which accept both seems to be increasing gradually.
If you are one of the people faced with the choice, there are a few differences which you might consider before making your decision.
Overall the two tests are actually quite similar. They both involve a long and exhausting test session. For many people these two tests will be the longest “exam sitting” they have experienced.
Obviously both tests now include the same 4 modules (Speaking, Writing, Listening and Reading) although these are broken down into sub-tests quite differently, TOEFL preferring a larger number of smaller test modules (e.g. 6 separate speaking sub-tests).
Another clear similarity is that for both the speaking and writing tests these two testing systems use very detailed and precise marking systems. This is where the real differences exist, in the actual way that the scores are given.
The Speaking Test
When you analyze the marking criteria for the two tests it starts to become clear that these tests are quite different.
If you consider the scoring system overall, the key difference is the band scores. TOEFL Speaking awards scores on a scale of 1 to 4 whereas as IELTS uses 1 to 9.
The important thing to realize here is that the differences between the scores or the “score boundaries” will be quite different. Because TOEFL only awards scores from 1 to 4, candidates in the score region of 3 for example can actually have quite different levels of ability. In contrast, for IELTS candidates, people in the band level of 6 will have very similar overall Speaking abilities.
How do the scores relate to each other? A commonly asked question is whether a TOEFL Speaking Level 4 is the same as an IELTS Speaking Band 9. The answer is that the scores are not parallel. It is not easy to calculate but an intelligent estimation would be that a TOEFL Level 4 is approximately the same level as an IELTS 6.5.
However, as I explained the TOEFL score is wider, so in fact any IELTS Speaking candidate with a score of 6 – 9 would most likely be awarded Level 4 in TOEFL.
What does this mean for the candidate? One way that this could be relevant is for very high level candidates. A candidate with excellent Spoken English would really be given the recognition that he or she deserves, for example a Band Score 8 or 9. If that same candidate took the TOEFL test they would only be able to score Level 4 in each question, putting them in the same category as some one who is only an IELTS Band 6.
I witnessed this situation recently. A student from one of my TOEFL classes scored very high in the TOEFL Speaking Test and then two months later took the IELTS test and scored 6.0 for Speaking.
From this point of view it can be said that it is easier to achieve high scores in TOEFL Speaking than it is in IELTS Speaking.
What are differences in the marking systems?
One thing that we must remember is that both systems are testing your ability to use spoken English in an academic context. This means that on a fundamental level they are both testing the basic elements of speaking: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, fluency, error frequency, consistent mistakes and expression.
However, one distinction in the marking systems is that the focus is not the same. If we take a very simple view, it could be said that TOEFL Speaking works in this way; if you take a non-native English Speaker and put them into an English Speaking Academic Environment (e.g. a university lecture on economics) how well would the candidate be able to interact with other students and the lecturer.
The TOEFL Speaking test is much more focused on your ability to use English in relation to academic tasks and to express your ideas clearly.
So really TOEFL Speaking takes the approach that candidates do not need to be “expert users” of English, they just need to be competent in using English to participate in academic discussion.
IELTS does not follow the same pattern. The scores for IELTS Speaking focus much more on colloquial language ability. IELTS does not put your speaking ability into the “classroom context”.
The higher scores for IELTS are testing your ability to produce certain features of spoken English that are typical of native-speakers.
This means that IELTS Speaking is actually less academically focused that TOEFL. To achieve a high IELTS score candidates must demonstrate the ability to use “native-speaker style language”, this includes things like slang, uncommon vocabulary and conversational devices (spoken linking words).
To summarize this we can say that IELTS is about speaking English in a natural native-speaker style and TOEFL is about using English in relation to academic tasks.
Are the tasks similar?
TOEFL Speaking Questions 1 and 2 are very similar to IELTS Speaking questions. Many of the topics used are identical and it is difficult to say who is copying who, many of the newer topics in both IELTS and TOEFL are exactly the same.
Questions 3-6 in TOEFL are Task-based so they require the candidate to have some ability to read and listen. This is another difference, a student with terrible listening and reading skills would still be able to achieve a high score in IELTS speaking but this student would have problems with TOEFL questions 3-6.
Will my accent make a difference?
This is one of the most common pronunciation questions. Quite simply the answer is that accent is not actually marked in either test.
Of course if you have a British, American or Australian accent your pronunciation will be much clearer and easier to understand (regardless of where your examiner comes from). Some students believe that they will lose marks if they use an American accent or in IELTS or a British accent in TOEFL, this is not true.
If we return to the marking system, in IELTS the highest pronunciation score is Band 8 – to achieve this score you need to produce some kind of accent “similar to native speaker” (but any kind of native speaker is acceptable). TOEFL Speaking Level 4 does not require an accent – you just need to be “understandable”. So again it is clear that if you have a beautiful British or American accent you will be given more credit for this in IELTS than in TOEFL.
To summarize all of this we can conclude that if you really believe that you have excellent spoken English you will be rewarded more in terms of scores with IELTS.
Writing
I think it’s true that with the Writing Tests, IELTS and TOEFL are quite similar.
The obvious similarity is that both exams have two writing questions and they are both similar in length although TOEFL answers need to be slightly longer.
Again, it must be said that these are language tests and they are testing your ability to produce good quality written English.
Many students seem to focus too much attention on the “whole answer” and forget that what is really being marked is your ability to produce written sentences.
A detailed analysis of the marking system does reveal some differences. TOEFL scores in writing are more focused on your ability to write in relation to the task, so again we see that TOEFL is more academically inclined. IELTS writing scores are focused less on the task and more on the quality of the language produced.
One important thing to remember for both IELTS and TOEFL is that there is never one “correct way” to answer a question.
Look at the following example questions.
The increase in the use of technology in our lives is having a negative effect on society. Do you agree or disagree? (IELTS Academic Task 2)
Technology is having a negative effect on our ability to communicate. Do you agree or disagree? (TOEFL Independent Writing Question)
Students often come to me with questions like; “Should I take one side or discuss both sides?” “Should I write two main ideas or more?”
You must understand that in both tests the actual format of your answer of your answer is not being marked.
For both questions there is actually a lot of freedom in the way that you write your answer. It would be perfectly acceptable in both IELTS and TOEFL to produce the following styles of answer.
Answer A
Agrees (or disagrees) with the answer and produces two main ideas to support your opinion.
Answer B
Agrees (or disagrees) with the answer and produces three main ideas to support your opinion.
Answer C
Agrees (or disagrees) with the answer and produces four main ideas to support your opinion.
Answer D
Agrees and disagrees with the question statement, produces one agree idea and one disagree idea.
Answer F
Agrees and disagrees with the question statement, produces two agree ideas and one disagree idea.
As you can see there are so many different ways to answer these questions and they are all as good as each other. There is no “standard correct way” to answer any of these questions.
Whichever style of answer you choose to write, just remember the following; use good quality sentence structures (a variety of different structures); a good range of complex vocabulary; keep the ideas directly relevant to the question.
In relation to scores, again the levels are slightly different. The highest score in TOEFL is level 5 and this is approximately the same as an IELTS Writing Band 7. To achieve the higher scores in IELTS (Band 8 and 9) your answer needs to be almost perfect in terms of language quality. You can achieve a level 5 in TOEFL with quite a lot of mistakes in your answer.
In summary, we have seen that IELTS is more about language and less about tasks. TOEFL is centered on language in relation to academic tasks. So which test is easier – my only advice would be to try two complete sample tests and decide for yourself – some people prefer IELTS others find TOEFL easier.
by Mat Clark
Posted by admin under: Civil Engineering; Technical Articles.
• Job: Structural engineer, Sedki & Russ Engineers, Sandy Springs
• What I do: While an architect gets the credit for a building’s design and appearance, Nebil Sedki says it’s structural engineers who make it all stand up.
“We do the skeleton of the building,” said Sedki, 67, president of Sedki & Russ Engineers. It’s really only Sedki now, he said, noting that Joseph Russ retired from the firm in 2002.
In addition to Sedki, the firm has three in-house engineers and contracts with three more.
A structural engineer, working from the architect’s plans, designs and places the building’s columns, outside walls, roof and foundation footings — and has to make sure it all will bear the weight of the structure. In addition, the engineer has to make sure the building is strong enough to stand up to hurricanes, earthquakes and whatever else nature can throw against it.
Structural engineers have a voice in whether the building is constructed with steel, concrete or both. And they have to keep it within budget and up to local building codes.
All the while, “we have to work with the [architect’s] rooms and layout,” Sedki said. Generally, the builder or developer hires the architect, and the architect hires the structural engineer, he explained.
He said he frequently dons a hard hat and goes to sites to inspect steel or concrete reinforcements and countless other details. When he finds a problem or something that requires additional attention, he directs the contractor to make the adjustments.
“I enjoy solving problems, because that’s where the challenge comes,” he said.
Sedki’s firm has been involved in several high-profile buildings in Atlanta and elsewhere. He did engineering for First Baptist Church of Atlanta and much of the work on additions at Northside, St. Joseph’s and Piedmont hospitals and at Gwinnett Medical Center.
He’s also worked on the high-rise Nigerian mission to the United Nations in New York City and a major mosque in Nigeria. He even helped an Italian duke fix a structurally unsound house on a farm in Coweta County.
“Anyone can design a safe building, and anyone can design an economical building,” Sedki said. “But it takes a structural engineer to design a safe and economical building.”
• What got me interested in this: Sedki said he was good in math when he attended school in his native Iraq.
He said his love of engineering began with a toy similar to an Erector set, with which he constructed bridges and buildings as a child.
“History and geography — that was torture,” he said. “Anything with science, I was very much interested in.”
Sedki comes from a Christian family from Baghdad and was taught by Jesuits. He left Iraq in 1963, well before the country’s current troubles began. He has not been back to Iraq.
• Best part of my job: “The challenges I face every day,” Sedki said. “Give me a problem, and I’ll scratch my head and then come up with a way to fix it.”
He says he faces new problems constantly, but “I have the experience to come up with a good solution.”
• Most challenging part: “Solving the problems,” Sedki said.
In addition to engineering, he also must run the business, and sometimes it’s difficult to estimate accurately how much a project will cost.
• What people don’t know about my job: “Everyone thinks that the architect is doing the whole thing,” he said. “It’s the engineers who make this thing work. When something collapses, who do you blame? The structural engineer. When something is beautiful, who gets the credit? The architect.”
• What keeps me going: “I look forward to coming here,” Sedki said. “It’s a job that keeps you active, keeps your mind working. It’s not like building one building and you keep doing the same thing over and over.”
• Preparation needed for this job: “You have to have an interest in science and go to a good engineering school, like Georgia Tech,” said Sedki, who got his master’s degree there.
“Think practically. Structural engineering is common sense,” he added. “You need theory — but how to apply it, that’s where common sense comes in.”
Sedki, who said he learned engineering with a slide rule, said it’s now essential to know computers but not to believe everything they produce.
“I’m still old-fashioned,” he said. “I draw the first time by hand. This way, I know everything works.”
An engineer must have a college degree, professional certifications and an engineering license. Keeping the license involves taking continuing education in the field.
Sedki earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from Al-Hikma University in Baghdad in 1961.
After serving in the Iraqi army as an engineer, he came to the United States, where he earned his master’s degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech.
He first worked for William E. Edwards’ engineering firm in Atlanta, eventually becoming president of the firm in 1975. Sedki and Russ started their own firm in 1978.
Source and Courtesy: ajc.com
Posted by admin under: Civil Engineering; Technical Articles.
Homes made from cow dung set David Youmans, a 27-year-old San Francisco engineer, on a new career path when he returned from a 2004 trip to India.
“It was a very strong image,” Youmans said. “I was seeing people living in poverty for the first time.”
The shock of that sight mobilized Youmans to band together with a few of his engineering colleagues to form the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a fast-growing Colorado nonprofit group that harnesses its volunteers’ skills to employ simple technologies that bring basic necessities to impoverished villages and slums around the world.
A visit to an impoverished region motivated Yayu Lin, 27, a chapter officer and an engineer with a San Mateo, Calif.-based homebuilder, to join the group.
At a large lake perched 12,500 feet high in the Peruvian mountains, she saw families of three or four sharing small huts built on reed platforms. These huts floated on the lake and provided little protection from wind and cold. But recent installations of solar panels on the floating platforms had begun to transform the lives of the people called Uros, Lin said.
“I was so inspired by what I saw with the Uros,” Lin said. When she returned home, she searched the Internet to find a volunteer opportunity, and in June she joined Engineers Without Borders.
In 2003, students at UC Berkeley and Stanford University formed chapters of a similar group, called Engineers for a Sustainable World, a San Francisco nonprofit organization founded in 2001. These students earn class credit and enroll in overseas internships to build low-tech, high-impact engineering projects that share U.S. technical know-how to help communities coping with tainted water, open pit sewers, scarce energy sources and a lack of basic amenities such as schools and health clinics.
Since the dot-com bust, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the growing alarm about climate change and environmental degradation, engineering students have been drawn more to meaningful work than to lucrative consulting contracts or generous stock option deals, said Richard Luthy, chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford.
“Their value system is ‘I’d rather do something that benefits society than make a smaller cell phone,’” Luthy said.
“Today, 2008, is a different mindset from 1997,” Luthy said. “It’s the realization, in particular, that engineers have a role to play in making the world a safe, healthy and productive place for all peoples.”
Engineers Without Borders-USA, which was founded in 2000, now has more than 230 chapters and 8,000 members. Scores of universities host chapters, including Yale, Harvard, George Washington and Duke. A growing number of cities also have professional chapters, with working engineers and professionals from other disciplines making up the membership.
“There’s tremendous, tremendous interest in the organization,” Lin said.
The San Francisco-based Engineers for a Sustainable World was founded in 2001 and has 30 college chapters and more than 4,000 members. Its focus, said Regina Clewlow, executive director of the organization, is expanding engineering curriculum to teach inexpensive technological solutions inside classrooms and to ensure that its members get class credit for their work.
The San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders joined in the high-profile “Berkeley Darfur stove” project. The group teamed with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory engineers to help design a stove that burns wood far more efficiently than the open pits used by residents of temporary camps in Darfur, Sudan. These camp inhabitants, displaced from their homes by ethnic and religious conflicts in Sudan, risk sexual and physical attacks from Janjaweed militia when they embark on long wood-gathering forays outside the camps. The demand for wood also is denuding trees in the surrounding lands.
That project began when CHF International, a U.S. nonprofit group providing relief to Darfur camp inhabitants, invited Ashok Gadgil, a senior scientist with the Berkeley lab, to Darfur to lead a project for designing a more-efficient stove. Gadgil is one of the world’s authorities on developing technical solutions that work in “resource-constrained settings,” said Jennifer Hyman, spokeswoman for CHF.
UC Berkeley graduate students and engineers at the lab then became involved in the early design of the stoves, which are made of steel and cast-iron gratings, stand a foot high, and are two-thirds more efficient than an open fire.
The Engineers Without Borders San Francisco chapter joined the project in 2006, and its members applied their professional experience to refine the design so that the stoves are easily manufactured in Sudan, using locally available materials. CHF is overseeing the manufacturing and distribution of the stoves.
Large-scale production began in August, said Hyman, and nearly 500 stoves are produced monthly by workers in Darfur who are gaining experience as metal workers.
“The users are thrilled with it across the board,” said Ken Chow, a member of the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders and director of engineering for the Darfur Stoves Project. “Once they cook their first meal in it, they realize how much less fuel they need and that it cooks much faster.”
The women use it to cook a thick dough called assida, a mix of sorghum, millet, wheat and corn flour supplied by the United Nations’ World Food Program.
Source and Courtesy of: Capecodeonline
Posted by admin under: Admission Exams.
GMAT is facing new competition in the shape of the GRE (Graduate Record Exam). Created and administered by the Educational Testing Service, another American nonprofit organisation, the GRE is already well established as an admissions requirement for graduate schools in America and in other English speaking countries.
Since September, the testing service has been running advertisements claiming that MBA could stand for “more business-school applicants” if schools switch to the GRE. Both GMAT and GRE test candidates on verbal, quantitative and analytical skills. Total scores are most important: out of 800 for GMAT and 2,400 for GRE.
Continue reading
Posted by sudini under: Spirituality.
Truth is what we believe,
Believe what you want and later name it some thing
Some People say Ethical or under law or said by god ultimately what is truth?
Posted by cherukuri under: Technical Articles.
1. Start with an attractive layout. Use bold and italics to highlight key points.
I do not recommend downloadable templates because they are very generic and dull. Get creative but not crazy. You can use a little touch of color if you are modest.
2. Justify the text instead of using left align.
Most people are accustomed to reading justified text. This will make your résumé easy to follow.
3. Choose a common font. Times New Roman, Arial, and Verdana are some of the best fonts for a résumé.
Now is not the time to experiment. Most computers do not have 600 different fonts installed so the file will not read correctly if you use your decorative fonts.
Do not use cutesy graphics such as candy canes or teddy bears if you want to be taken seriously.
- Yes, I have really received a résumé with teddy bears and candy canes on it.
It is NOT appropriate for business correspondence, and I guarantee your résumé will be canned if you do this.
4. Do not use the word “I” in your résumé. Start each sentence with a powerful verb.
- Organized annual student symposium by securing speakers and working closely with marketing department executives.
- Implemented production bonus incentives and “best practices” matrix for all divisions raising overall productivity by as much as 40%.
5. Write a proper cover letter for each position you apply to. Do not ever send out a résumé without a cover letter.
This is basic business etiquette. Personalize each cover letter directly to the position you are applying to. A generic cover letter will not work to your benefit. If possible, address the letter directly to a person. If you do not know the hiring managers name, use “Hiring Manager”.
6. Print your résumé and read it word for word.
You can use the grammar and spell check function, but don’t rely on it.
7. When you have a degree, list only the year that you obtained your degree.
When you list your dates of attendance, many résumé scanning systems will not recognize that you obtained a degree, only that you attended college for a period.
8. Deactivate all e-mail links and web addresses in your résumé and cover letter.
To do this in MS Word, highlight the link with your mouse, go to the “Insert” drop down menu, scroll down to and click “Hyperlink”, and on the lower left-had side of this screen there should be a little button that says “Remove link”, when you find it, give it a little click and voila! Alternatively, you can highlight the link with your mouse, right click on it, and scroll down to “remove link” to deactivate the link.
9. Be consistent!
For example, don’t list one date as 1/2004 and then list another date as 9/22/2004.
List software consistently. MS Word and Microsoft Excel are both correct, but not consistent when used together.
10. Adhere to punctuation and capitalization rules.
Use a reference manual if you do not understand standard punctuation and capitalization rules.
Posted by admin under: Computer Science.
Taking breaks from work to recharge mentally is a normal part of office life. But when the workday includes performing tasks like high-risk surgery, resting your mind sometimes isn’t possible. That’s why Tufts University researchers Robert Jacob, the head of the university’s Human-Computer Interaction group, and Sergio Fantini, a professor of biomedical engineering, are working on a computer interface that adapts to a user’s changing mental state. The technology, dubbed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), provides data that the computer can use to gauge a user’s needs and adjust the interface accordingly Continue reading
Posted by admin under: Finding Jobs.
The dollar value of global outsourced engineering services — either through captive engineering centers, joint ventures with local companies or through traditional outsourcing deals — will continue to grow at double-digit rates into the foreseeable future. It is expected to grow from a total of about $40 billion worldwide in 2007 to $80 billion in 2010, according to a 2005 study conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), an Indian software-trade organization. As the level of engineering sophistication available globally will keep rising, the kind of services being offshored will grow in variety, as will the number of industries looking to offshore their engineering needs.
The number one motive for the rise of offshore engineering services has long been the desire to cut costs. Engineering services are expensive, and the opportunities for reducing labor costs alone by moving services offshore are significant. Ninety-six percent of respondents to the Booz Allen/Nasscom study cited lower cost as a primary motive for offshoring, with the second most common reason, easier access to overseas markets, was mentioned by just 36 percent.
When asked what their motives for outsourcing engineering services will be in 2010 to 2015, however, the number of respondents mentioning lower costs fell to 70 percent, yet the number that mentioned access to overseas markets almost doubled. That shift illustrates the growing influence of globalization on all aspects of corporate strategy, from innovation to production to selling into rapidly growing overseas markets. As those markets open up, corporations are looking to locate more activities locally, benefiting from direct contact with suppliers, manufacturers and customers.
India, Eastern Europe to Reign
That’s in part why by 2010 the trend toward greater choice in where to offshore engineering services will have sped opportunities in non-traditional markets. While India will hold its position as the place to go for software services and embedded electronics, Eastern Europe will continue to gain strength — Russia is strong in aerospace and industrials, Bulgaria in electronics, and Romania in traditional mechanical engineering, while the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland are growing in automotive and industrials. Elsewhere, Brazil and Malaysia have been outsourcing destinations for quite some time, while the Philippines and Vietnam are also becoming increasingly popular.
For companies looking to offshore through third-party outsourcing service providers, the big five, Tata, Satyam, Wipro, HCL and Infosys (all of them based in India, but operating globally) will continue to dominate the market. The rest will be divided among number of small but growing niche players, such as Infotech and QuEST, each concentrating on particular markets or processes.
Auto, Aerospace Industries to Outsource
Traditional, vertically integrated industries such as automotive, aerospace and marine engineering have been slow to make the move to outsourcing because of the lack of reliable technology linking engineering centers, the inherent complexity of the products being engineered, and competitive, legal or commercial issues. We expect to see that changing by 2010, as engineering collaboration technology improves and different industries come under increasing competitive pressure to develop products for worldwide markets.
A greater variety of industries are beginning to offshore their engineering services in part because of the trend to outsourcing increasingly complex engineering processes. Areas, such as integrated product development of highly engineered goods such as cars and planes, have lagged. But that is changing, as the engineering service offerings grow in complexity. Local engineering talent is becoming more sophisticated, and as local markets such as India begin to offer more and more complex products, they attract even more engineering talent. For instance, India’s expertise in automotive engineering is growing as it builds more small, fuel-efficient cars for its home market.
Europe to Send Engineering Work Overseas
U.S. corporations typically begin by outsourcing low-level, non-core services such as documentation, basic simulation and basic computer-assisted design work in hopes of cutting costs, then gradually move to more value-added processes as their confidence grows. While European companies have been slower to outsource, their approach has been more strategic and less cost-driven. The political and economic problems tied membership in the EU are declining, so we expect to see more European companies sending their engineering needs offshore. Japanese companies are still several years behind Europe in their willingness to outsource, but the globally oriented electronics firms such as Hitachi and Sony have long taken a strategic approach to engineering, and more traditional Japanese firms such as the automakers are beginning to follow.
Like any market, offshore engineering services too obey the laws of supply and demand. As cost pressures and the competitive need to take new products to new markets as quickly as possible continue to increase, companies are increasingly willing to offshore core processes. By 2010, we expect to see further evidence of the transformation of the offshore engineering services market as it learns to meet the increasingly diverse and increasingly strategic needs of global corporations.
Kevin is the global leader of the firm’s innovation business. Vikas is an expert in offshoring of engineering services, business strategy, product design and development.
Courtesy- Global Services
Posted by admin under: Graduate School Admissions; USA.
To determine if graduate school is right for you, start by asking yourself the following questions:
1. What do I want to accomplish in my life?
2. What are my short and long range professional goals?
Many careers in Computer Science do not require a graduate level degree. However, if your professional goals include management, research in a university or a national lab, or teaching at a college or university, you should seriously consider obtaining a Masters or Ph.D. degree.
3. Is graduate study necessary for me to achieve these goals?
To teach or do research at a university, a Ph.D. is almost always required. At least a Masters degree is necessary to do research at a research laboratory. Community colleges will hire teachers without a Ph.D., but a Masters is always manditory. Many companies will require employees interested in management positions to already have a Masters, or to have a plan to obtain one in certain period of time. Some companies will provide funding for employees to obtain their Masters.
4. Do I have the interest and ability to be successful in a graduate program?
Do your interests include teaching others, research, and self-motivated learning? Do you have the ability to organize your time, motivate yourself, work on large-scale projects, interact with others, and communicate ideas clearly? Have you done well in your computer science classes on the undergraduate level? If so, you probably have what it takes to succeed in a graduate program.
5. Am I willing to invest the time and money to pursue another academic program?
Actually, money is usually not an issue for computer science graduate programs. Your tuition will most likely be waived by the school or provided by the company for which you are working. In addition, most students receive a stipend in the form of a teaching or research assistanceship, which is adequate to maintain a decent standard of living. True, you may be giving up a high-paying job for a few years while you complete your degree, but a post-graduate degree will broaden your career choices, and provide you with an even higher salary. As far as time investments go, the average student is able to get a Masters degree in two years, and a Ph.D. in five to six years.
Masters vs PhD
If from answering the questions above, you feel that graduate school is right for you, the next step is deciding whether you want to apply for a Masters or PhD program.
If you feel the least bit interested in obtaining a PhD, apply for PhD programs. If later on you decide you only want a Masters, you can fulfill the requirements for a Masters and leave the program early with the Masters degree. It is much more difficult to switch from a Masters program to a PhD program. Even if you are sure you want to get a PhD, make sure you fulfill the Masters requirements along the way (not difficult in most PhD programs), so that if any unexpected events make it impossible for you to obtain your PhD, you can at least get a Masters for your efforts.
If you are only interested in getting a Masters degree, be warned that funding is more difficult to obtain as a Masters student. Since the program takes only about two years to complete, this is not a major setback (especially considering the salary boost you will receive once you get your degree). Your other option is to find a company that will pay you to get your Masters. Generally, this takes longer since you will be working and studying at the same time, but funding will no longer be a problem.
