11/21/09
L'A380 traverse l'Atlantique
Le premier Airbus A380 d'Air France,
qui avait décollé de l'aéroport parisien de
Roissy avec plus de 500 passagers
à bord, a atterri vendredi 20 novembre
à l'aéroport Kennedy de New York.
L'Airbus A380 a effectué sa première
traversée transatlantique commerciale.
L'appareil d'Air France, qui avait
décollé de l'aéroport parisien de
Roissy avec plus de cinq cents
passagers à bord, a atterri vendredi
20 novembre à l'aéroport Kennedy
de New York.
Ce vol marque le début de l'exploitation
commerciale de l'avion géant
par une compagnie européenne.
Parmi les passagers, près de
trois cent quatre-vingts avaient payé
un billet aux enchères, autour
de 1 000 euros pour un siège
en classe économique, dont
le bénéfice est destiné à
des œuvres de charité
à destination des enfants.
Le résultat net des enchères a atteint
"plus de 300 000 euros", a annoncé
le directeur général d'Air France,
Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.
Les dirigeants de la compagnie, ainsi
que des invités étaient
également du voyage.
Parmi eux des dirigeants
d'entreprises françaises comme
le président de la SNCF, Guillaume Pepy,
le président du directoire de Safran,
Jean-Paul Herteman, ou encore
l'ancien PDG du groupe
d'électronique Thales, Denis Ranque.
Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
11/20/09
Senate hold on ambassador threatens Boeing deal
Aubrey Cohen: Aerospace reporter
Boeing may lose a $7.5 billion jet fighter
sale to Brazil unless the
U.S. senator lifts a four- month
delay in confirming President
Barack Obama's nominee for
ambassador to the country,
Bloomberg reported Thursday.
"This will cost thousands of
U.S. jobs," Bernard Aronson,
who served as top envoy to
the region from 1989 to 1993,
told Bloomberg. "It's an insult
to Brazil to tell them they're
not important enough to have
an ambassador like so-called
advanced countries but that we
want them to buy
our planes over the French."
Aronson is one of nine ex-Assistant
Secretaries of State for the
Western Hemisphere who
yesterday sent a letter urging
Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla.,
to stop blocking a vote on
career diplomat
Thomas Shannon's nomination,
Bloomberg reported.
Aronson said the delay may
help France's Dassault Aviation SA
beat Boeing in the competition
to sell Brazil 36 warplanes.
Link here--
J-L K
AfDB Approves Funding for Railway Project Study
African Development Bank
(Tunis)
AfDB Approves Funding for
Burundi-Rwanda-Tanzania
Railway Project Study
Tunis — The second phase of
the Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-
Musongati Railway project study will
cover the existing 970-km
Dar es Salaam-Isaka railway
link and its extensions.
The project is part of the East African
Community (EAC) priority investment
programme which attaches
great importance to multinational
poverty reduction projects,
through regional infrastructure
development and cooperation
among member countries.
The study will benefit from lessons
drawn from Phase I of the project
co-financed by the AfDB which
analyzed various rail alignments
with associated physical and
technical constraints, project
environmental and social impact,
economic and financial feasibility
and existing institutional framework.
The results were presented to
a development partners' and
private sector round table held
in Tunis in March 2009.
Phase II will focus more on deepening
the institutional framework and
structuring the project in the form
of a Public Private Partnership (PPP).
It will involve Analysis of the
project's socioeconomic benefits,
notably for the most vulnerable
people (women, children,
rural dwellers, etc.), in terms of
business development and
enhancement of economic
potential (particularly in mining,
industry and agriculture) as well
as facilitating the low-cost marketing
of goods and movement of people.
There will be a comparative analysis
of modes of transport (road, rail and
rail-road and lake-rail combination)
on the corridors to Rwanda and Burundi;
The third component comprises
environmental and social impact of
the future railway project (impact
of climate change on the project,
spread of sexually-transmitted infections,
including HIV/AIDS and the impact
of rail transport on public security)
as well as appropriate measures for
mitigating the negative impacts
during and after project implementation;
and finally, private sector participation
in financing the project and
managing railway infrastructure.
The project will provide the governments
of Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi
with data and decision-making tools
to facilitate mobilization of financing,
project implementation and
railway infrastructure management.
Four mining sites will be connected to
the Keza- Musongati Section by
50 km-branch lines.
The Project Impact Area (PIA) covers
Rwanda, Burundi and North-West
Tanzania (Shinyanga and Kagera regions),
with a population of 22.7 million,
53% of whom live below
the poverty line.
* 1 UA (Units of
Account) = USD 1.59 as
at 17/11/2009
Contacts
Lotfi Madani
Link here--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
Farmers raise incomes from Intercropping
chairman Arnold Kilewo clicks a
computer mouse during the
inauguration of the company's selling
point in Arusha.
By The Citizen Reporter
Growing coffee and banana plants together
can increase farmers' revenues by as
much as 50 per cent, researchers say.
They are encouraging coffee and
banana farmers in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
and the Democratic Republic of Congo
to grow the two crops together,
an International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA) statement has noted.
In 2005, IITA and the Ugandan National
Agricultural Research Organisation
were requested to evaluate the success
of a Usaid-funded Agricultural
Enhancement Programme.
Their finding was that Ugandan farmers
got nearly 50 per cent more income
from growing coffee and bananas
together than growing either crop alone.
"The study showed that when farmers
intercropped banana plants with coffee
in their fields, the coffee yield remained
almost the same, with farmers gaining
additional income from bananas.
This is despite a slight reduction in
the number of coffee plants to make
room for bananas," Mr Piet van Asten,
a scientist with IITA based in Uganda,
said in the statement.
The research, conducted in 2006/07,
showed that in the arabica coffee-growing
region around Mt Elgon, annual returns
per hectare averaged $4,441 for coffee
and bananas grown together compared
with $1,728 and $2,364 for bananas
and coffee grown alone respectively.
In the robusta-growing areas in South
and Southwest Uganda, annual returns
per hectare averaged $1,827 for coffee
plus bananas while farmers earned $1,17
and $1,286 for solely growing bananas
and coffee respectively.
"These results were spectacular: coffee yields
did not decline when intercropped
with banana plants compared
with when grown alone.
Therefore, all revenue generated by
the banana was a bonus to
the farmers," Mr van Asten explained.
Intercropping of coffee is not
a common practice in the region,
with some countries even
discouraging it for fear it will
reduce coffee yields.
However, many farmers in Uganda,
especially in densely populated areas,
have practiced coffee
intercropping for many years.
Mr van Asten said the two crops
complemented each other.
Coffee plants love the shade,
which is provided by the much
taller bananas. Also, with this set-up,
intercropped coffee also seemed
less potassium-deficient
than when grown alone.
"The increase in coffee yields is
most likely a result of the high
biomass turnover in the banana system,
resulting in more soil organic matter
and nutrients in a form more
easily available to the plants.
The increased canopy and self-mulch
reduce weed pressure and
the need to till. Tillage usually damages
both coffee and banana roots
which are normally shallow," he said.
According to him, bananas provide
farmers with food and a modest
but continuous cash flow
throughout the year.
Coffee gives a more substantial income
to farmers twice a year that can be
used to purchase additional
farm inputs and equipment,
improve shelter, and meet
family obligations such as
school fees for children.
Coffee is an important cash crop
for countries in the Great Lakes
where it is a major source of
foreign exchange revenue and
income earner for small holder farmers.
Bananas are important staple produced
all year round. Working under
an initiative called the Consortium
for Improving Agriculture-based
Livelihoods in Central Africa,
Mr van Asten and his colleague at
IITA are now urging farmers in
Rwanda, Burundi and DRC to
not only put bananas in their
coffee fields but to also put coffee
in their banana fields.
In Uganda, IITA and partner organisations
are exploring opportunities on how
to expand the benefits of this research
to the coffee farmers who still
practise monocropping.
Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
Lake project also to cover Burundi, Rwanda
By Zephania Ubwani, Arusha
The World Bank supported Lake Victoria
Environment Management Programme
(LVEMP), launched in the mid-1990s,
will now be extended to Burundi and Rwanda.
Its second phase, initially confined to
Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya because
they share the vast water body, will now
cover the two states which became
members of the East African
Community in 2007.
Implementation of the LVEMP II started
last month after the signing of
financial agreements between Tanzania,
Uganda and Kenya and the World Bank
as well as between the Bretton Woods
institution with the EAC.
Under the World Bank's Adaptable
Programme Lending (APL)), the financing
arrangement for the eight-year programme
has been split into three parts.
APL1 has received support of the IDA
(the development arm of the World Bank)
amounting to $90 million (Sh119.2 billion)
for the initial four years.
This will only involve Tanzania ($ 32.5 million),
Uganda ($27.5 million) and Kenya ($30 million).
The component would also be financed
by the Global Environment Facility- GEF
($ 7 million), Swedish International
Development Agency -Sida ($10 million)
and borrowers (about $7.8 million
equivalent in local currencies).
EAC sources say the GEF and Sida support
would mainly finance activities at
the regional level where the project
would fall under the supervision of
the Lake Victoria Basin Commission
(LVBC), an institution under the EAC.
APL 2, with grant support of $30 million,
will bring Burundi and Rwanda
into the programme.
Its preparations are expected to be
finalised by December 31, this year.
Although they do not share the lake,
the two countries are within
the broader Lake Victoria Basin.
Other major projects being implemented
around the lake in collaboration with
LVBC are EAC/AMREF Lake Victoria
HIV/Aids Partnership Programme
(EALP) and the Mt Elgon Regional
Ecosystem Conservation
Programme (MERECP).
Yet another is the Lake Victoria Water
and Sanitation Project supported
by the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN Habitat).
It covers 15 urban centres around
the lake, three from each partner state.
According to an EAC report, the project
consultants, Mr Mott MacDonald of UK,
have prepared draft investment plans
for the 15 towns.
Discussions were underway with
various development partners
to fund the investments, it said.
"The African Development Bank (AfDB)
has indicated an availability of $565 million
(Sh748.6 billion) for the purpose,"
said the report.
It will be presented to the EAC Council
of Ministers one of its
policy organs - meeting in Arusha.
The AfDB has also provided $495,000
for a detailed pre-investment
analysis/study of the Maritime
Communications for Safety
on Lake Victoria.
This is a project whose implementation
would be based on public/private partnership.
Last September the US Government
granted $3 million to the EAC to support
the management and conservation
of the Mara river basin as
a trans-boundary resource.
The project covers the famous
Serengeti National Park and
Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya.
Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
11/19/09
Truly Remarkable Academic Insights on Sarah Palin
It has often been said that today's
rank-and-file conservative is
"anti-elite." I've always been uncomfortable
with that characterization because — in
my experience — conservatives are quite
respectful of certain kinds of elites,
like elite soldiers, elite athletes,
and talented musicians and other
artists (provided those artists don't
believe that their abilities also provide them
with unique insight into, say,
health-care policy or war strategy).
The elite that conservatives tend
to disdain is the contemporary
intellectual (or academic) elite,
not because intellectual excellence
isn't obtainable or worth respecting
but because we look at what
passes for academic thinking
these days and, frankly, it's
remarkably unimpressive.
Nowhere is this high-minded mediocrity
on better display than in the
near-universal disdain for Sarah Palin.
And today's Inside Higher Ed provides
a tremendous gift, a near-perfect
example of condescending nothingness
masquerading as insight.
Called "Palintology," the column,
by Scott McLemee, begins:
Important as it was, the campaign of
Barack Obama was not the only
history-making element of the
2008 presidential election.
With Sarah Palin, we crossed another
epochal divide. The boundary
between reality television and
American politics (already somewhat
weakened by the continuous
"American Idol" plebiscite) finally collapsed.
Her campaign's basic formula was
familiar: members of an ordinary
middle-class family turn into
instantly recognizable national
celebrities while competing
for valuable prizes.
This is good stuff. Let's begin with
a shot at reality TV and then deliver
the ultimate insult: that Sarah Palin
is like one of "those people," you know,
a member of the "middle class"
desperate for fame. How her emphasis
on her humble roots is any different
from John Edwards's "son of a millworker"
schtick, or Joe Biden's emphasis
(sometimes false) on his blue-collar ancestry,
or even our own prep school- and
Ivy League-educated president's emphasis
on the challenges of his upbringing
is left unexplained. I guess
intelligent people should just know
that Sarah Palin's emphasis on her
"every(woman)" identity was
somehow worthy of contempt.
But that's not all, of course.
I love this part:
I'm not sure what Sarah Palin's
favorite work of postmodern theory
might be (all of them, probably)
but she seems to take her lead
from Jean Baudrillard's Seduction.
Other political figures use the media
as part of what JB calls "production."
That is, they generate signs and
images meant to create an effect
within politics. For the Baudrillardian
"seducer," by contrast, the power
to create fascination is
its own reward.
What is Joe Biden's favorite work
of postmodern theory?
Nancy Pelosi's? (I'm pretty sure that
Barack Obama has a favorite postmodern
theorist because he seems to be
that kind of guy.)
And as for the power to create
fascination being "its own reward": What
evidence is there that Sarah Palin enjoys
this more than, say, virtually any
other public figure?
Politicians are notoriously addicted
to crowds and the limelight.
But I suppose other politicians are
mostly motivated by a desire
to serve the public, generating
"signs and images" for
"political" ends — but not Sarah Palin.
She has to be more cynical,
more self-regarding, right?
Watching Palin respond to questions
about her book Going Rogue
(or not respond to them, often enough)
is, from this perspective,
no laughing matter.
She grows ever more comfortable
talking about herself.
Forgive me, but I thought the book
was an autobiography.
Is this too cynical?
I fear it may not be cynical enough.
For it assumes that Palin will
eventually be integrated into
her party's apparatus and turned
into a mouthpiece of old-school
Republican electoral politics — a
basic platform of tax cuts for
the rich and unregulated handgun
ownership for everybody else.
Yep, that is the "basic" Republican platform.
Tax cuts and guns. I thought we were
all about "guns and religion." Tax cuts
replaced religion?
I'll have to update my talking points.
Of course Republicans have nothing
at all to say about foreign policy,
health care, abortion, marriage,
banking regulation, energy policy,
or any other relevant topic — it all
goes back to the "basic platform.
" Lower taxes and Glocks.
At this point, the column takes a bit
of a turn, lionizing the publishers
of Going Rouge, a collection of critical
essays about Sarah Palin.
Why lionize them?
Because — hold on to your hats — they
don't have much a budget, so they're
creatively using the Internet
to publicize their book.
That's a novel idea.
Please, tell me more.
But one can only lionize marginal
left-wing publishers for so long
before returning to the bogey(woman)
of the moment. I loved this bit:
But she is busy demonstrating
a strong intuitive grasp of how
mass media can be used — among
other things, to change the subject.
An example is the item Palin
posted on Facebook in early
August: "The America I know and love
is not one in which my parents
or my baby with Down Syndrome
will have to stand in front of
Obama's 'death panel' so his
bureaucrats can decide,
based on a subjective judgment
of their 'level of productivity
in society,' whether they are
worthy of health care.
Such a system is downright evil."
This was fantasy. But it was
effective fantasy. To borrow again
from Baudrillard, it seduced — abolishing
reality and replacing it
with a delirious facsimile.
I hate to "borrow again from Baudrillard,"
but this is a rich irony — coming
from a writer who just reduced
the entirety of Republican thought to
"a basic platform of tax cuts for the rich
and unregulated handgun ownership
for everyone else." Who, exactly, is
"abolishing reality and replacing it
with a delirious facsimile"?
The column ends thus:
Well, consistency is, after all,
the hobgoblin of tiny minds.
Sarah Palin is playing the political game
on a much grander scale — with
rules she may be rewriting as she goes.
With a first printing of 1.5 million
copies of her book, I don't know that
the intervention of an upstart press
can pose much of a challenge.
But OR Books deserves credit for
trying. Someone has to speak up
for reality from time to time.
Otherwise it will just disappear.
Let's see . . . a politician rises from a
small town, governs a small
(by population) state, and then runs
for high office in part by emphasizing
their humble roots. Nope, that's
never been done before.
I guess she really is "rewriting
as she goes." Thanks, Mr. McLemee,
for speaking up for reality.
Link here--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
11/18/09
How Marriott Broke Down Customer Data Siloes ?
multiple brands enabled the hotelier
to craft unique offers for
customers and exceed sales goals.
— CIO — Make every interaction
meaningful: It's the Marriott philosophy.
This is not an easy task given
the multitude of Marriott brands
and the plethora of campaign
management tools used
to contact customers.
By partnering with brand leaders
and marketing leaders, Marriott's IT
department built a unified framework
for engaging with customers.
The project enabled Marriott
to exceed its revenue goals
while sending customers fewer,
more targeted communications.
The Situation: With more than
3,200 properties operating under
19 brands in 67 countries, Marriott
needed a campaign management
platform that could scale across
brands, programs and marketing
organizations; integrate guest
communication preferences;
and efficiently serve offers
to millions of customers.
To read more on this topic
see: Get More from CRM: Activities
vs. Campaigns and The Keys
to Marriott's Success.
What They Did: A cross-functional team
of marketing leaders, brand leaders
and IT defined the experience
they wanted to provide to customers
across all Marriott regions, brands
and franchises. "We needed to fully
understand Marriott's marketing goals,"
says Mike Keppler, senior vice president
of sales, marketing and revenue
management systems. To accomplish
this goal, Marriott built a data
warehouse that provides sales
and marketing employees with
a "working memory" of the customer.
A data appliance provides
the computing power necessary
to very quickly parse large amounts
of disparate data about customers
collected in different hotel systems.
Statistical models derive and
present offers to customers based
on their past preferences
and behavior. Metrics gathered
from each campaign fuel
future campaigns and build upon
the working memory
about each customer.
Why It Was Unique: Marriott knew
its customers visited multiple brands;
for the first time, it had a way to tailor
its offers to how guests use
its different services. In the spring
of 2007, the first e-mail campaign
to use the platform was sent
to 3 million recipients. It included
2.9 million unique messages with
offers targeted to the recipients.
The campaign exceeded its
original revenue goals by
35 percent within six months
of deployment. The platform also
includes a Web-based self-service
tool for regional marketers,
cutting regional campaign
development from six weeks
to two days.
The Takeaway: A cross-functional
approach facilitated the creation
of an end-to-end business
process supported by
technology that provides balanced
marketing with relevant offers.
Rick Swanborg is president of
ICEX and a professor
at Boston University.
For more information,
visit www.icex.com.
Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
Outcomes vs. Tasks ( Outsourcing)
in Outsourcing: Outcomes vs. Tasks
No one who outsources IT
really cares about servers
or switches or man-hours.
They want business results.
Outcome-based outsourcing
promises to deliver those results,
but moving from input-based pricing
to outcome-based contracts
is easier said than done.
— CIO —
Outcome-based outsourcing is
the holy grail of IT services.
Both customers and providers
agree that if they can figure out
a way to tie sourcing strategy
to business results everyone
will be happier in the end.
The problem with many traditional
outsourcing arrangements is that
they focus on input rather
than output.
Just as U.S. health care reform
advocates criticize a system
that incents doctors to
perform tests and procedures
with few rewards for the
ultimate goal—a healthy patient,
some outsourcing reformers
say too many IT services deals
are myopically focused on
tasks or man-hours rather
than business results.
Outcome-based contracts—at
least, in theory—can
change that. "Paying for outcomes
is the idea of paying for
success toward a desired
result instead of paying for
individual items like servers
or programming hours,"
says Adam Strichman,
an independent outsourcing
consultant based in
Mechanicsville, Va.
"Nobody really wants servers,
or switches or a mainframe.
They generally want
a business outcome, such as
faster access to information
or an automated delivery system."
[ For more stories on
outsourcing pricing models,
Introducing a New, Hybrid Pricing Model. ]
But devising outcome-based
outsourcing deals that satisfy
both the customer and the
vendor has proven difficult.
Time-and-materials contracts
remain the most common
outsourcing model in the industry,
particularly offshore, says
Sandeep Karoor, managing
director of outsourcing
consultancy Neo Advisory.
Fixed-price contracts run
a distant second.
Outcome-based contracts
account for, at most,
15 percent of new deals,
says Strichman, and they may
only apply to part of
the outsourced work.
Who's Outcome Is It Anyway?
Part of the problem with this
new paradigm, whereby
contracts are based on results
rather than resource consumption,
is in defining outcomes.
Every stakeholder has
a different desired end
state—or two or three.
The CEO wants happy customers
and shareholders or to be
the industry leader.
The CFO wants an increase
in profitability. The business
unit leader may desire
best-of-breed systems.
And the CIO?
He's got a whole list—lower costs,
better service levels,
increased customer satisfaction.
What may be the biggest
problem of all is that
the IT service provider has
very little control over
or connection to any
of those outcomes.
Outsourcing: Pros and Cons
- More cohesion of work being delivered
- Freedom from interviewing
- and monitoring individual staff members
- Ability to incent more
- innovative behavior from provider
- Potential for higher eventual
- savings as labor arbitrage
- is replaced by productivity
- and synergies between
- tasks as key savings drivers
- Lack of transparency into
- how work is being performed
- Little insight into costs
- of service (unless visibility
- into resource consumption
- is maintained)
- Additional administrative
- burdens associated with
- root cause analysis (if service
- is not being delivered
- as promised) and evaluation
- of service delivery from
- outcome-based perspective
--Source: Forrester Research
"The measure of success—or
outcome—has to be directly
related to the success or
failure of the
underlying services,"
says Strichman. "It sounds simple,
but it can be hard when
you start talking about
business outcomes.
The supplier cannot influence
things beyond the
supplier's realm of responsibility."
For example, the CFO may
want to tie the outsourced
application development of
a new product to the profitability
of that new product, but that
may be impossible.
The application development
provider could design
the world's best system
two weeks ahead of schedule
and a million dollars under
budget, but it has little
control over other
factors—such as marketing,
economic conditions,
bad management,
inept delivery managers,
bad press—that affect
the profit outcome.
"There are all types of
outcome-based pricing,"
says Strichman. "Sometimes
these models have
moderate success.
Often they have no
success whatsoever."
The most common business
outcome tied to IT services
deals to date is increased
customer satisfaction,
says Strichman, but that
may encourage the vendor
to construct customer
surveys that will deliver
the desired result.
"The belief is that by
tying metrics and pricing
to the success of the business,
both parties now have
their goals in alignment,"
says Strichman. "But the
reality is, alignment is not
enough; the vendor must be
able to influence a significant
portion of the costs which
influence the outcome
being measured. And
the metrics must make
sense related to the service.
Customer satisfaction may
have nothing to do
with the vendor."
Contracts focused on
desired outcomes at
the CIO level have a
concrete record of success.
With these types of deals,
a vendor takes responsibility
for "end-to-end" IT
service levels. "The vendor is
responsible to create
an entire system—design,
infrastructure, network,
programming, maintenance
and customer support/help,"
says Strichman. "These contracts
are not uncommon
and can work. But even
that is really, really hard to do."
Resistance on Both Sides
Beyond the ability to identify
and connect business
outcomes to IT services delivery,
another roadblock on
the journey to outcome-based
outsourcing is
cultural resistance—from both
the client and the vendor.
Customers often are not
comfortable ceding the level
of day-to-day control necessary
to enable the vendor
to focus on outcome,
rather than service delivery.
"Considerable change
management is required
in the client's mindset
during the initial
delivery phases," says Karoor.
Handing over the reins
requires that the client has
enough self-knowledge
to be able to create realistic
outcome-focused SLAs,
not to mention a deep level
of trust in its vendor.
While Gartner has noted
that providers are moving
toward output-based pricing
models where services
support a process with
measurable outcomes,
buyers for the most part
still seek out the safety
of traditional outsourcing models.
Only more mature clients
are beginning to link
outsourcing outcomes to
business objectives,
says Gartner, which "typically
involves an evolved pricing
model developed after
relationships and trust
have been established."
Providers may resist
business-outcome focused
contracts because of
the risk they represent.
Although moving away
from input-based
pricing enables vendors
to deliver IT services as
they see fit, "the vendor assumes
much more risk for the
relative freedom of
choice [it gets] regarding
the means for implementation,"
says Strichman. Indeed,
the higher up the outcome
on the business value chain,
the more risk the provider assumes.
One Vendor's Approach
Symphony Services,
a Palo Alto, Calif.-based
provider of offshore IT services
in India and China has been
touting its "outcome certainty"
pricing model for software
engineering. "It commits us
to meeting mutually
agreed-upon goals," says
Neil Fox, Symphony
Services' vice president
of strategic consulting.
"If we don't meet them,
clients pay reduced costs
for our services."
The trick to outcome-based
outsourcing, says Fox,
is "linking contractually
guaranteed work by the vendor
to measurable client business
outcomes, such as improving
product line revenue,
raising customer satisfaction,
increasing product innovations
or reducing time to market."
For customers who want to
align vendor goals with
business goals, outcome-based
pricing can be the differentiator,
says Fox. But not everyone
is into the idea. "Some clients
opt out of our outcome
certainty-based contracts
because they want the most
simplified approach to managing
their outsourcing partner,"
says Fox. Those customers
sign more traditional
fixed-cost or time-and-
materials contracts.
Some customers shied away
from the strategically focused
outcome-based approach to
sourcing during the recession
when all eyes were on
cost-cutting, according to
Forrester Research principal
analyst Bill Martorelli.
Just 24 percent of outsourcing
customers said increasing
their use of output-based
pricing was a high or
critical priority, according to
a Forrester survey conducted
during the second quarter
of this year. Nearly one-fourth
(24 percent) said it was a
low priority, while 37 percent
reported that it was not on
the agenda. But Martorelli predicts
outsourcing customers' interest
in outcome-based outsourcing
will increase as
the economy stabilizes.
© 2009 CXO Media Inc.
Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
11/17/09
“Le XXIe siècle sera religieux ou ne sera pas.”
On répète souvent une phrase
attribuée à Malraux : "Le XXIe siècle s
era religieux ou ne sera pas."
En fait, l'auteur des Antimémoires
n'a jamais prononcé cette phrase.
Il a même précisé à
Pierre Desgraupes (Le Point,
10 novembre 1975) : "On
m'a fait dire : "le XXIe siècle
sera religieux". Je n'ai jamais dit
cela bien entendu, car je
n'en sais rien.
Ce que je dis est plus incertain.
Je n'exclus pas la possibilité
d'un évènement spirituel
à l'échelle planétaire."
Georges Verpraet, journaliste à
La Croix, rapporte les propos
du curé de Strasbourg, qui avait
fait dire à Malraux en 1973
dans L'Enfant du rire : "Le XXIe siècle
sera métaphysique ou
ne sera pas".
Huit ans plus tard, l'écrivain
André Frossard assurait avoir
entendu sur les lèvres
de Malraux: "Le XXIe siècle
sera mystique".
En réalité, Malraux était athée.
Comment remplacer Dieu,
se demandait-il?
C'est ce qu'exprime Tchen,
un des personnages de son
grand roman humaniste
La Condition humaine: "Que faire
d'une âme s'il n'y a ni Dieu, ni Christ?".
Le 23 novembre 1976,
ses obsèques n'eurent droit
à aucun honneur religieux,
mais plutôt à une étrange
cérémonie dans la cour carrée
du Louvre, devant la haute statue
colorée d'un chat.
Il y a donc tout lieu d'utiliser
cette citation avec
une grande prudence...
(Sources: Courrier International /
George Verpraet - La Croix)
voxdei
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
Kenya combs forest for squatters
"Sierra Leone" stand before
forest land which has been
cleared for cultivation
Many of those evicted have
no where else to go
Officials have started combing
Kenya's largest woodland, the Mau forest,
to ensure squatters have left after
a deadline for their eviction expired.
Many of its rivers, which supply vital water,
have dried up and the government
wants to restore the eco-system.
Most of the region's 20,000 families
have left their farms, officials say.
But a BBC reporter in the area says
many had nowhere else to go and are
now living in squalid and desperate
conditions on the forest boundaries.
During the past 15 years, more than
100,000 hectares - one quarter of the
protected forest reserve - had been
settled and cleared.
The problem here is mental torture
Mau forest evictee
In pictures: Mau forest
Life dries up in Mau forest
The government has said it would
compensate settlers who could
supply title deeds to their land.
However, it is estimated that as few
as 1,962 families have genuine title deeds.
Much of the land was handed out
by politicians in the run-up to elections
and then re-parcelled and
sold on illegally.
The BBC's Ruth Nesoba in the Mau forest
said it has been raining heavily
and some of homeless evictees
were very angry.
"We've obeyed the government rules
and come out.
"But the problem we are facing here
is the problem of hunger, some are sick,
some have injuries, the problem here
is mental torture," a distraught man
told the BBC.
The government says the destruction
of the forest canopy has sparked
an environmental disaster downstream,
with millions of people
suffering from water shortages.
And the East African country has just
suffered its worst drought in years.
Officials now intend to replant the more
than 100 million trees felled
by the squatters and illegal loggers.
But environmentalists estimate that it will
be many decades before
Kenya rivers flow again.
Link here
--
J-L K
Première faille critique confirmée pour Windows 7
Sortie Windows 7 Le dossier complet
par Christophe Auffray, ZDNet France.
Tags: Windows 7, Sécurité, Système
d'exploitation, Windows Server, Microsoft,
confirmer, détecter, full disclosure,
disclosure, évaluer
Sécurité - Microsoft a confirmé l'existenced'une faille non corrigée dans le protocole
SMB de Windows 7 et Windows
Server 2008 R2.
L'éditeur reproche au chercheur
Laurent Gaffié d'avoir révélé
publiquement ce problème de sécurité.
En début de semaine dernière,
un chercheur en sécurité, Laurent Gaffié,
avait publié une preuve de concept sur
Full Disclosure afin de démontrer
la présence d'une vulnérabilité dans
Windows 7 et Windows Server 2008.
Mercredi 11 novembre, Microsoft indiquait
évaluer la faille. Quelques jours plus tard,
l'éditeur a émis une alerte pour confirmer
l'existence de cette vulnérabilité,
qui exploitée permet de provoquer
un déni de service sur un ordinateur vulnérable.
Microsoft rappelle son opposition
au Full Disclosure
Selon Microsoft, la faille de sécurité
découverte par Laurent Gaffié ne permet
pas de prendre le contrôle d'un ordinateur
à distance ou d'installer du code malveillant.
Aucune attaque exploitant ce bug de
Windows n'a pour l'instant été identifiée
indique l'éditeur sur son site Internet.
Un correctif est actuellement
en cours de développement.
Si les travaux de Laurent Gaffié ont permis
à Microsoft d'identifier une faiblesse
dans le code de son logiciel, l'éditeur
lui reproche néanmoins sa méthode
de divulgation, non-responsable.
D'après la firme de Redmond,
la divulgation publique expose
les utilisateurs à des risques.
Microsoft encourage les développeurs
et chercheurs à lui signaler directement
l'existence de failles de sécurité.
Cela lui permet ainsi de concevoir
un correctif sans que les utilisateurs
soient exposés à des attaques.
Toutefois, si des chercheurs pratiquent
le full-disclosure, ou divulgation totale,
c'est aussi afin d'éviter que les éditeurs
concernés dissimulent la présence
de failles (qui peuvent ternir leur image)
et ne les corrigent pas promptement,
laissant les utilisateurs dans
l'ignorance et vulnérables.
Christophe Auffray, ZDNet France.Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
11/16/09
Tips and Tools to Stay Safe and Sane
Another day, another password: Thanks
to Web-based apps, we're all
acquiring passwords at quite a clip.
How do you remember them all
while staying secure?
Here are some helpful tools and
strategies -- that don't involve
writing your passwords on sticky notes.
By Bill Snyder
shopper-Bill, flyer-Bill, reader-Bill,
buyer-Bill, potrero-Bill, or this that
and the other Bill on the 30
or more sites that comprise
my online life?
And which of my many passwords
do I need right now?
If you spend much time online,
you probably have the same
problem I do: How to remember
your ever-growing list of
online usernames and
passwords—and stay
secure at the same time.
[What's the latest in
Microsoft's War against
Google Apps?
See CIO.com's recent analysis
of where Office stands a
gainst rival Web-based apps. ]
You're savvy enough to know that
identity theft and illegal access
to personal and financial data
are real-world problems that
you want to avoid. But what are you
doing about it?
Odds are, not much, says
Andrew Jaquith, a computer
security analyst at Forrester Research.
"There are two classes of people; those
who seem to care about the security
of their accounts, and those who
act as if they don't."
Most people, he says, fall in
the later category.
If you're one of the majority,
your security strategy may be
nothing more than using
a single password for every site
you need to access. On the one hand,
the chances of it being stolen
aren't terribly high and you
probably won't forget it. But if it
is stolen, the malefactor will have
access to your entire online life,
including bank accounts and
maybe medical records.
Not a pretty thought.
It turns out that there are a number
of strategies that will help you
avoid that ugly scenario. Most of them
are simple, free or quite inexpensive,
and much more secure than
what you're doing now. But some
are just halfway measures that
could let you down in a pinch.
A Password Safe of Sorts
Let's start with my favorite.A Windows program called RoboForm,
($29.95) from Siber Systems.
RoboForm stores your passwords,
usernames, personal information,
and the URLs of sites you visit
on its secure server. Your information
is protected by a master password
that you'll enter before
logging into a site. The program will
then log you in, and automatically
fill out the kinds of forms you need
to do things when shopping online.
If you typically work on two computers,
say one at home and one
in the office, you can synch
the two PCs and have your
passwords on both systems.
Until recently, RoboForm suffered
from the same flaw that most
password managers
suffer from:it was useless if you
were on a public computer.
That's a real problem if you're
traveling without your laptop and
suddenly realize you have bills
to pay via your banking site,
or want to make an online trade.
RoboForm Online fixes that.
It is however, in beta form, and
a bit clunky, requiring a double sign
on and a few other minor annoyances.
But it does work (based on my try out)
and the company expects
to have a finished, and presumably
more polished, version out
within a few months.
There's also a version for the iPhone,
and it's possible to load RoboForm
onto a USB drive and take it
with you for use on public computers.
The company says the USB version
leaves no traces behind.
If you use RoboForm do not
forget your master password—it is
not recoverable. Although password
recovery is a common feature
on many Web sites, Siber Systems
decided that enhanced security
was more important than
potential inconvenience.
Tools for Mac Users
By the company's own admission,RoboForm doesn't work
very well on a Mac (that's supposed
to change next year) but a similar
program called 1Password ($39.95)
from Agile Web Solutions,
offers many of the same features
for use on Apple hardware.
I haven't tried it out, but it's
earned good reviews and gets
nod from Forrester's Jaquith.
Users of various versions of
the Mac OS can also take
advantage of a built-in feature
called Keychain that offers
password management
on a single machine.
Another option that's similar
to RoboForm, Callpod's $29.95
Keeper utility, comes in versions
for Mac, Windows, and Linux users
(The vendor offers a 15-day free trial.)
A separate mobile Keeper version
serves iPhone and iPod touch users.
If you are a smartphone user,
the first step you should take
to stay safe is password protect
your whole device: See instructions
from CIO.com's Al Sacco on how to do it.
A Free Trick or Two
Don't want to spend money?You could simply put your passwords
in a password-protected file.
If you use Microsoft Word, it's easy.
Simply go to Tools, then Options
and click the security tab.
You'll have the option to require
a password to open the file,
or just to modify it.
If you're traveling, you can put
that file on a USB drive.
But don't forget that password.
If there's a backdoor that will let
you recover the file without it,
I haven't heard about it.
Warning: Many security gurus,
such as Bruce Schneier,
don't advocate keeping this type
of file on your PC. (See this useful blog
post from Schneier for some more
advanced advice on crafting
and managing passwords. )
Most browsers, including
Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari,
can automatically fill in forms
and passwords for you.
That's certainly helpful and if
you're certain that no one else
has access to your computer,
it's not terribly risky.
However, if your teenager or
someone else does use your computer,
you could be in trouble.
A simple solution is to delete
saved passwords and forms
when you get done. In Firefox,
for example, go to "Tools," "Options"
and then the security tab and look
for the "saved passwords" button.
Click it and a list of saved passwords
and usernames opens up.
Simply delete all or some of them.
Other browsers have similar features.
Also remember that public computers
are often infected with malware, including
keyloggers that copy everything you type.
Password managers defeat them,
since the password is not
actually typed on the page.
Finally, Google and some other
online heavyweights are reviving
an old idea, a secure, single
such as your Google or Yahoo ID,
that you could use for multiple sites.
Sun and other companies have
experimented with similar schemes,
but none ever got off the ground.
Maybe this attempt will be
the charm. But I'm not holding
my breath, and will continue to explore
password management options
that really exist. So should you.
San Francisco journalist Bill Snyder
writes frequently about business
and technology.
Follow everything from CIO.com
on Twitter @CIOonline.
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda
Rwanda’s agriculture up despite global crisis
The Independent
By Kelvin Odoobo
Rwanda's agricultural sector continues
to maintain an impressive growth
trend in the first half of 2009
in spite of taking a hard hit from
the current global economic downturn.
The Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI)
Ernest Ruzindana said that despite
an 8.12% reduction in export volume
the sector registered growth
in 2009.
In a presentation, Overview
of Achievements and Challenges
in the Agricultural sector,
January - June 2009, during
the Joint Agriculture Sector Review
at Laico Umubano Hotel in Kigali,
Ruzindana said agriculture
registered a 6.6% increase
in food production in Season B of 2009.
Rwanda experiences a short
rainy season from September
to November (Season A) and
a long rainy season from
February to May (season B).
The short dry season runs
from December to January
and the long dry season
from June to mid-September.
However at 2.9%, the reduction
in export earnings was much
smaller than the reduction
in total volume of exports.
Increases in yields stood
at 99% for maize, 43% for wheat,
28% for rice and sweet potatoes.
More importantly was an
11% increase in bean production
which marks a significant
increase in protein supply to the population.
There was a also a significant
growth in milk production and
consumption during the first
half of the year during which
143.15 million litres, 11.2% increase,
contributed to the increase from
about 25 litres per person
per year consumption in 2008
to 29 litres/per person /year in 2009.
This is closer to the FAO
recommendation of 54 litres/person/year.
However the dairy sub-sector still
faces crucial challenges in
increasing milk production in
few collecting centres, low capacity
of milk processing plants,
lack of animal feeds,
artificial insemination services
and weak veterinary services.
The volume of coffee exported
from January to June fell from
4.92 million kilograms in 2008
to 4.27 million kilograms in 2009
while the value of coffee exports
fell further from US$12.05 to
US$9.5 million due to the fall
in coffee prices.
However, despite a fall in volume
of tea expected by 2.5%, earnings
from tea exports increased by
10.6% from US$2.06 million to
US$2.34 million during the same
period mainly due to the increase
of tea prices by 13.6%.
Ruzindana also said that investments
in higher-value products
are paying off.
The Rwanda government through
its policy of adding value
to agricultural products locally
to boost farmers' earnings has
seen the development of
special Rwanda coffee and tea brands.
The Minster of Agriculture
Agnes Kalibata said the proposed
Rwanda Agricultural Board which
will streamline the sector initiatives
and harmonise them with
various government institutions
was pending cabinet approval.
The new Rwanda Agricultural
Board will combine the Rwanda
Agricultural Research Institute,
Rwanda Agricultural Development
Authority and Rwanda Animal
Resources Development Authority.
Link here
--
J-L K
Sent from Kigali, Rwanda