Monthly Archives: May 2009

Emerging opportunities in the semiconductor industry – with Abhijit Abhyankar, country head Rambus India – 4th June

PuneTech logoWhat: Talk by Abhijit Abhyankar, country head of Rambus India, on the current trends in the semiconductor industry and emerging opportunities in the areas of IC design, EDA tools and applications.
When: Thursday, 4th June, 6:30pm to 8:00pm
Where: Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road. To reach Venture Center, go past NCL towards Pashan, pass the cricket ground adjacent to NCL and then you’ll find NCL Innovation Park / Venture Center on the right hand side. Map
Registration and fees: This event is free for all to attend. No registration required.

About the speaker – Abhijit Abhyankar

Abhijit Abhyankar is a Sr. Engineering Director, and the country head for Rambus Chip Technologies, India. Abhijit has over 17 years of industry experience and was directly involved in the design of groundbreaking Rambus memory technology. He has held various engineering, management and executive positions at Rambus. He has authored several publications and is the inventor of multiple patented technologies at Rambus. Abhijit has an MBA degree from San Jose University, an MSEE from Stanford University and a BSEE from University of Utah.

About PuneChips

PuneChips is a special interest group on semiconductor design and applications. This event is the inaugural event for PuneChips. PuneChips was formed to foster an environment for growth of companies in the semiconductor design and applications segment in the Pune area. Our goal is to build an ecosystem similar to PuneTech for companies in this field, where they can exchange information, consult with experts, and start and grow their businesses.

PuneChips has been started by Abhijit Athavale, president and CEO of Markonix, and a high-tech marketing consultant. He has 16+ years of high-technology industry experience. Prior to Markonix, Abhijit spent over 11 years at Xilinx, Inc. in various engineering, applications and marketing roles. In his role as a marketing consultant, he has held executive management positions at Taray, Inc and Sanved DA. He has a masters degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University and a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from University of Pune. He is an accomplished speaker and author of several publications including a book.

For more information, see the PuneTech wiki profile of PuneChips, and/or join the PuneChips mailing list.

Please forward this mail to anybody in Pune who is interested in semiconductors, chip design, VLSI design, chip testing, and embedded applications.

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Hello Android: An overview and group discussion of Google’s mobile platform – June 6th

Pune Google Technologies User Group GTUG logoWhat: Google Technology Users Group (Pune GTUG) presents an overview and group discussion on Google Android with Sushrut Bidwai
When: Saturday, 6th June. 4pm to 6pm
Where: Synerzip. Dnyanvatsal Commercial Complex, Survey No. 23, Plot No. 189, Near Mirch Masala Restaurant , Opp Vandevi Temple, Karve Nagar (Map).
Registration and Fees: The event is free for all. Register here.

Details
Agenda for this meet:

  • Brief History of Android
  • Android Phones
  • Android Experiments
  • What is Android?
  • What’s in new SDK
  • Android Architecture in detail
  • Application Fundamentals
  • User Interface
  • Resources and Assets
  • Data Storage
  • Content Providers
  • Security and Permissions
  • Developing Android Applications In Eclipse, with ADT
  • First Android Application
  • Further Reading

About the Speaker: Sushrut Bidwai

For more information about PuneGTUG, see the PuneTech wiki profile of PuneGTUG. For other tech events happening in Pune, see the PuneTech calendar.

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TZen: Community Powered Innovation with the PlanetAikon platform

planet-aikon-logoPlanetAikon is a forum that allows “community powered innovation”. It is a Pune-based startup which allows its members to “connect, collaborate and co-create”. It strives to be a unique innovation ecosystem bringing together a community of ideators, contributors and sponsors – in other words, it connects the guys with the bright ideas, the guys with the money, and the guys with skills and time to implement the idea.

This is the story of TZen, one of PlanetAikon’s success stories. It is written by Prateek Dubey and originally appeared on the PlanetAikon Blog, and is republished here with permission.

TZen – The Tool whose Time has Come

Hi- I am Prateek Dubey and I have a Story to share with You – The Story of Tzen

The Inspiration and the Rationale

It all started when Zensar Technologies Testing Center of Excellence decided about 2 yrs ago to develop a test tool which will be used for Manual Testing for Projects in Zensar and to encourage use of Test Tools among associates. Add to that the prohibitive cost of branded Testing tools and the Training & Upgrade costs associated with it were the significant business drivers which strengthened our resolve to build such a tool.

Zensar Technologies Limited
Image via Wikipedia

We developed our first Test Tool prototype which was a Test Management Layer over an Opensource Defect Management Tool called “Bugzilla”, which was based on technologies like CGI, perl and mysql.

We soon realized that our prototype was not going to fulfil the future requirements of Test Management, as CGI was slow and handling large data in an efficient way was a challenge. This was the time when we started a new prototype which was based on new AJAX Technology. An article about a newly introduced web services concept called REST sparked further ideas. After a month of design and re-design we finally had a draft design ready. We chose php for implementing our web services to support the development of a quick, easy to understand and highly responsive tool. We wanted this application to be a full-fledged WebTop Application, keeping in mind that we were designing it for the future. We came up with a prototype which was named “TZen” by our project manager Vishal Wani. Vishal encouraged us to do a Demo of our Prototype to some internal projects. The Demo was an instant hit as nobody had ever seen a Web Application which loaded only once and then ran on the browser as a Desktop Application.

With Vishal’s and Testing Practice Head Prem Apte’s continued support, we started development of our product with help from Testing Community in Zensar. As we developed TZen further we were facing serious technology challenges as “Ajax” was a new technology and we were at par with rest of the world in exploration of the same. Thus, every time we ran into an issue we had to resolve it mostly by ourselves. We were also using Technologies like Yahoo UI library and Dojo, it took us around 6 months to come up with a first fully functional TZen prototype. We deployed it at various projects and got a lot of feedback on our implementation, TZen was still very basic in functionality and we still had a lot of work to be done. During this time we had a lot of organizational changes in team and finally we were left as a 2 member team from a 4 member team.

Reinventing TZen with Community Powered Innovation

TZen went slow for about 6 months until recently when it got revived by a Zensar Opensource Innovation initiative with the help of Planetaikon Platform. We started with significant doubts about what we could achieve through an Open Community involvement. But with support of NASSCOM (under their Innovation Initiatives) and the leadership at Zensar we soon found ourselves inundated by requests from individuals from other companies to join this initiative.

  1. We had the usual initial teething issues as folks were adapting to working on a on-line collaborative co-creation platform (as against meeting face-to-face or the “business-as-usual” of e-mail exchanges).
  2. We got a lot of feedback from participants which led us to shortlist 27 (twenty seven) new features to the existing version of our tool.
  3. Those who contributed did so because of their passion to create something and did so in after-office hours and on weekends. In approximately 5 months time we were able to come up with our Release 1.1 with those 27 additional features which we have again contributed back to the community.
  4. Our Vision is to develop TZen into the most successful Opensource Test Management Platform. Our Team size has now grown to 66 (Sixty Six)!
  5. TZen is designed ground up to be Opensource and Agile development compliant product. It can be developed quickly and tested easily. This was recently re-integrated when a small set of students with only a few days of TZen exposure, created a “Commenting System” for TZen , which is going to be featured in the next TZen release again a validation of the value that communities can provide

TZen – A Snapshot

TZen provides most features that a Test Management Tools must have. These include:

  • Requirement Management
  • Test Plan Management
  • Test Case Management
  • Test Execution Management
  • Defect Management (integrated with Mantis)
  • Reports and Exports at various levels

The Road Ahead

As we progress, we look forward to the community to help us take this product to new heights. Some of the features we plan to include are

  • Extensive graph and Chart support
  • Flexible Imports
  • Custom Fields
  • Server pull services and more….

TZen has got a lot of business, technical and innovation opportunity ready to be explored and taken forward, improvements at every level are in progress.

We are now throwing open another call to professionals who are keen to participate in taking TZen to its next high. We are looking for Php 5 developers, Testing Domain Experts, Usability Domain Professionals and Testers.

Come add to our adrenalin and let us show the world how the audacity of Ideas can be supported by the passion of communities.

Join us @TZen on Planetaikon. We are counting on YOU.

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PuneGTUG: What Google Technologies would you like to hear about?

Pune Google Technologies User Group GTUG logoThe Pune Google Technologies User Group (PuneGTUG) is a group of developers interested in various Google technologies – from the Google App Engine, to Google Charts, to Google Maps and a whole bunch of others that make development of web applications (and in some cases non-web applications) easy (and of course they are free). The PuneGTUG has regular meetings where somebody gives and overview of a particular Google technology, to give developers an idea of what is possible with this technology, why use it, and how to get started. It is also a great place to meet like-minded developers in Pune.

Last weekend, for example, PuneGTUG had a presentation on the Google App Engine. The presentation was attended by about 25 people, and Pranav Prakash did a good job of giving an overview of GAE and also built a sample app right there to give the audience an idea of what exactly is involved in building an app. The slides of the talk are here.

PuneGTUG would like to hear from you as to what technology you are most interested in learning about. More generally, they are interested in finding out how this forum can be made more useful for you. And, of course, if you could speak on one or more related topic, then please let them know – speakers are always welcome.

So please fill in this form, to let them know.

And if you’re interested in keeping in touch with the activities of the PuneGTUG, join the PuneGTUG mailing list, and subscribe to the PuneGTUG blog.

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MCCIA Seminar: “Why MBA?” (for students and parents) – 21st May

mccia-pune-logoWhat: A seminar targeted towards graduates and their parents on why they should do an MBA. With Arun Mudbidri, Director SIBM, and Sreeram Geet, Career Counsellor
When: Thursday, 21st May, 10:30am-12:30am
Where: Hall no. 3, 5th Floor, Wing A, MCCIA Trade Towers, ICC Complex, S.B.Road
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Please contact Mr. Shriniwas Rairikar / Ms. Sandhya Acharya at MCCIA, Tel: 25709179 / 25709000 Email: shriniwasr@mcciapune.come / sandhyaa@mcciapune.com

Agenda for the Seminar

  • Suitable Timing to Start Necessary Mindset
  • Understanding & Maturity Understanding of Competition
  • Knowing about the Institute What is suitable for me?
  • Basic Future Career Building Career Bricks
  • What is the course & what after that?

Mr. Arun Mudbidri, Director of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune is the Chief Guest.

About the speaker – Dr. Sreeram Geet

Dr. Shreeram Geet is a professional Career Counsellor associated with Jnana Prabodhini Sanshodhan Sanstha, Pune. He has guided more than 6500 students. He was the Guest Speaker for career fairs held by Director of Technical Education, Maharashtra State. Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation also invited him as a Guest Speaker for 2006-2007 and also He has written 4 books on ‘Career Guidance’ and has conducted several ‘Career Guidance Seminar / lectures.

For other interesting events in Pune, see the PuneTech Calendar, or better yet, subscribe to get updates (free) by email or via RSS

Pune Rails Meetup #1 – 21st May

Pune Rails LogoWhat: A get together for Pune’s Ruby on Rails enthusiasts
When: Thursday, 21st May, 8pm
Where: North Main Lounge, Koregaon Park
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. No registration required
Links: Follow @punerailsmeetup on twitter, Facebook Pagex

Details:
A meetup for all the developers in and around Pune working on ruby on rails – the coolest web technlogy available. A meetup to chill out together and talk! It is being organized for the first time to initiate and encourage interaction between the rails community in Pune!

Also: Check the Facebook Page for PuneRailsMeetup

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IndLinux: 2-day meet for developers of Indian versions of Linux – May 16, 17

IndLinux
Image by fox2mike via Flickr

What: A 2-day workshop intended for all teams working on localization, documentation and development of Indian versions of Linux
When: 16, 17 May, 10am to 6pm
Where: Red Hat Pune, 6th Floor, East Wing Marisoft-III, Marigold Premises, Kalyaninagar, Pune
Registration and Fees: No idea. But, in keeping with the “free” and “open source” philosophy of linux, I would be surprised if the event isn’t free and open for all to attend
Link: click

Details:
A meeting of the various teams associated with IndLinux will be held at the offices of Red Hat Inc., Pune. Broad objectives of the meeting are to have all teams touch base with one another, and work together to chalk out a roadmap for work over the next year. There will be three tracks over the two days of the meeting, with two of these always running in parallel: (a) Localisation track, (b) Documentation track, and (c) Code development track. Specific objectives, and where possible, immediate deliverables for the various components of each track will be set before the meeting.

Schedule:

Day I: 16th May, 2009

Localisation track

Development track

10:00-11:00

Introduction, general queries and concerns

11:00-11:40

Bengali: Runa Bhattacharjee

11:00-13:00

Locales, and related work: Rahul Bhalerao, Pravin Satpute, Parag Nemade

11:40-12:20

Chhatishgarhi: Ravishankar

12:20-13:00

Gujarati: Kartik, Shweta Kothari

13:00-14:00

LUNCH

14:00-15:00

FUEL project: Rajesh Ranjan

14:00-17:00

OCR: Tesseract Debayan

15:00-15:20

Assamese: Amitakhya Phukan

15:20-16:00

Hindi: Rajesh Ranjan, Ravishankar, Karunakar, Ravikant

16:00-16:40

Kannada: Shankar Prasad

16:40-17:20

Maithili: Sangeeta Kumari, Rajesh Ranjan

17:20-18:00

Malayalam: Santhosh Thottingal

17:00-18:00

OCR: Simple approach: Gora, Shantanu, Nandeep

Day II: 17th May, 2009

Localisation/documentation track

Development track

10:00-10:40

Marathi: Sandeep Shedmake

10:00-13:00

Dictionaries:

(a) Finish phonetic rules for aspell: Gora

(b) Phonetic rules for Hunspell: Santhosh

(c) Stardict dictionaries: Karunakar

10:40-11:20

Oriya: Manoj Giri

11:20-12:00

Punjabi: Jaswinder Singh

12:00-13:00

Translation quality assurance: Runa Bhattacharjee

13:00-14:00

LUNCH

14:00-14:40

Tamil: Sri Ramadoss M, I Felix

14:00-15:30

Font converters: Gora, Shantanu, Nandeep, including Hindi work from Google groups.

14:40-15:20

Telugu: Krishnababu

15:20-17:00

Round table on localisation: All

15.30-17:00

Other development work

17:00-18:00

Discussion on emphasising documentation

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Overview of Google App Engine – Pune GTUG Meet – May 16

Pune Google Technologies User Group GTUG logoWhat: Google Technology Users Group (Pune GTUG) presents a seminar on the Google App Engine
When: Saturday, 16th May. 4pm to 6pm
Where: Synerzip. Dnyanvatsal Commercial Complex, Survey No. 23, Plot No. 189, Near Mirch Masala Restaurant , Opp Vandevi Temple, Karve Nagar (Map).
Registration and Fees: The event is free for all, no registration required.

Details
Agenda for this meet:
1. Little talk about Cloud Computing
2. Getting Started with Google App Engine Python
3. Live Examples on Google App Engine
4. Question and Answer
5. Introduction to Google App Engine Java (if time permits)

Speaker: Pranav Prakash

For more information about PuneGTUG, see the PuneTech wiki profile of PuneGTUG. For other tech events happening in Pune, see the PuneTech calendar.

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Breakfast with TiE: Ravi Nigam of Tasty Bite Eatables – 14 May

TiE Pune LogoWhat: A talk by Ravi Nigam, MD of Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd., and an informal get-together with entrepreneurs from The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Pune
When: Thursday, 14th May, 8:30am to 9:30am
Where: PYC Hindu Gymkhana, Near Deccan Gymkhana, Bhandarkar Road, Pune
Registration and Fees: Anybody can attend. The event is free for TiE members, and Rs. 50 for non-members. To register, send mail to namita[dot]shibad[at]gmail[dot]com.

Details:

This month Kiran Deshpande, a Charter Member of the TiE Pune chapter, will host the “Breakfast with TiE” event. At this event, the members and attendee’s get an opportunity to meet each other.

Tasty Bite Edibles, Ltd.
Image via Wikipedia

This session will feature Ravi Nigam, Managing Director of Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd., a professional turned entrepreneur. From being a BIFR company thru the 1990’s, Tasty Bite became a well documented ‘turnaround’ case study, and has now gone on to become India’s largest selling consumer food brand in North America.

Ravi has had a long career in Food and Agri Business and prior to his entrepreneurial stint, has worked in Sales, Marketing and Exports functions in companies such as Britannia and Pepsi.

Ravi will for this round of Breakfast With TiE share his experiences and insights into the processed food business.

Ravi will talk in detail about evolution of Tasty Bite. This will be followed by an informal chat with all present.

The event is free for TiE members. Non-members will have to pay Rs. 50 per head to attend.

Please confirm your attendance by emailing Namita at namita.shibad@gmail.com

Breakfast with TiE will also feature actual breakfast. It’s a sit down fixed menu breakfast – Two items + tea/coffee

This will also be a chance for new entrepreneurs, and wannabe entrepreneurs to interact with successful entrepreneurs for guidance and mentorship.

For information about previous TiE events, see PuneTech’s TiE page.

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MCCIA Seminar on Underwater Technology – 14th May

mccia-pune-logoWhat: MCCIA’s New Emerging Opportunities Committee presents a seminar on “Underwater Technology” by Ian Gallett of the Society for Underwater Technology
When: Thursday, 14th May, 4:30pm
Where: Sumant Moolgaonkar Auditorium, A Wing, MCCIA Trade Tower, ICC Complex, S.B. Road
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Please register by contacting
Ms. Snigdha Goliwadekar on email: snigdhag@mcciapune.com, tel # 25709001 or
Mr. Rajiv Kolhe on email: rajivk@mcciapune.com, tel # 25709151

About The Society for Underwater Technology

Underwater Experiment
Image by abduzeedo via Flickr

The SUT was founded to promote the further understanding of the underwater environment and to encourage:

  • Cross-fertilisation and dissemination of ideas, experience and information between workers in academic research, applied research and technology, industry and government
  • Development of techniques and tools to explore, study and exploit the oceans
  • Proper economic and sociological usage of resources in and beneath the oceans
  • Further education of scientists and technologists to maintain high standards in marine science and technology.

Underwater Technology covers the following areas:

  • Diving technology and physiology
  • Submersible design and operation
  • Naval architecture
  • Underwater acoustics
  • Subsea systems
  • Geology
  • Geophysics
  • Marine resource exploitation
  • Oceanography
  • Environmental studies
  • Pollution
  • Marine biology

About the speaker – Ian Gallett

Mr. Ian Gallett is the Chief Executive of the Society for Underwater Technology, an
international society dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge and ideas in all aspects
of subsea technology, ocean science and offshore engineering. After gaining a degree in
Physics and conducting research into electromagnetic propagation, he joined the Royal
Navy in 1973 where he became a metocean specialist. His main concerns were in
operational oceanography and acoustics, particularly the effects of the ocean environment
on long range passive sonar detection. Before leaving the Navy in 1996 with the rank of
Commander, he was responsible for setting Royal Navy policy in the collection and use
of oceanographic data, and their application in acoustic modeling. He has been with the
Society for 12 years.

About MCCIA’s New Emerging Opportunities Committee

The New Emerging Opportunities Committee is a platform created by MCCIA with an
objective to create awareness about New Emerging Opportunities & its applications in
the Industries. It intends to organise Lectures / discussions / seminars on New Emerging
Opportunities.

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