Msit Voice December, 2008

Vol : 1 Edtion : 1 December 2008

VOICE : MSIT-shaping young minds!! Business imperatives and dynamics in a world-wide context, propelled in technologically effervescent environment, elude organization’s search for that all-fit” ideal” talent. A talent pool that’s technologically competent, communication and network savvy,attitudinally positive, socially and culturally understanding, and capable of delivering results anytime, anywhere is what business demands today. Master of Science in Information Technology, MSIT, an interdisciplinary post graduate program in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg took its inception in the year 2001.A brain child of Dr.Raj Reddy, the programme aims at transforming ingenuous entrants into nimble professionals equipped with necessary technical skills and business acumen required to succeed in constantly changing digital world. Initially MSIT was launched in various learning centers located at IIIT, Gachibowli, SIT- JNTU, Hyderabad, College of Engineering, Osmania University and NIT, Warangal. MSIT has been a trendsetter in addressing the needs of IT professionals by continuously aligning the focus of its course structure with the changing realities. Since its inception, the course has always been at the vanguard of the evolution and advancement of Information technology education and research, offering expertise to industry in alignment with their talent requirement. Its special features standing out to be its pedagogy, personalized mentoring, project centric curriculum and soft skills training. Equipped with excellent infrastructure, the programme took off with a good number of students, close to 140. Initially a one year diploma course offer too was rolled out to the 2001 students and the first batch had a combination of both the MSIT and PG diploma students. As it happens with every other course during its nascent stages, MSIT too experienced a few initial hiccups with self paced learning extending into a longer learning path that the students took to. The programme plugged the loopholes and developed a strong evaluation system. A gamut of soft skills courses with an objective to enrich the people skills of the students are designed to be offered by corporate trainers along with continuous sessions to improve students’ LSRW skills by internal trainers. 2002 and 2003 witnessed majority of students taking to Bio-informatics specialization offered at IIIT learning centre. SE and E-Commerce specializations were also offered alongside. Soon after the development of course websites in the year 2004, there was a complete learning by doing methodology adopted successfully and the students embraced the project centric approach with dexterity. MSIT started offering Language technologies and networking specializations too from 2005. Consistent and meticulous up gradation of course material enabled structuring the course curricula with a healthy blend of theoretical aspects and practical nuances. Alongside this, concept tests are designed in a way that would help in building up the foundations of each course offered. Programming contests are also held in order to enhance programming skills and foster a spirit of healthy competition. A consistent placement record until 2006 proves the efficacy of the programme in contributing expertise to the industry. Multi dimensional responsibilities of a faculty at MSIT, as a mentor, counselor and a trainer make the role complete and helps shaping up the students into all rounded professionals by invoking their dormant capabilities. Students enjoy the journey from the college to corporate with all gusto. ’MSIT News@6', where students read out the daily updates everyday at both the learning centers, helps them stay well informed. ‘MSIT Journeys’ conducted at IIIT Learning center serves as a platform of learning from the speaker’s experiences. ‘MSIT classiques’, skits

enacted by students strengthen the concept of theater based learning in soft skills. An annual cultural festival, ‘MSIT Spree’ has got added to the program’s calendar and the students across the learning centers take up the additional responsibility of organizing the events over and above the already grueling academic schedule. Spree has evolved as a celebration and change to let one’s creativity, talent and enthusiasm loose. A fusion of sports, literary events, dramatics, choreographed dances and musicals serve as a respite to MSITians. Picking up hands on experience on projects along their way, constantly conditioning themselves to handle project deadline pressures, quickly putting newly gained skills into action, students at MSIT look beyond traditional models; looking instead to nontraditional, path-breaking solutions. We look forward to enhancing our research capabilities by working on research projects, conducting tech-symposiums where students get to showcase their potential and present papers. Around 450 students have graduated from this program hitherto and 80% of the alumni have built their career in the IT domain. ‘The program equips its graduates to navigate present and future business landscapes with agility’ says an alumni student who’s working with Nokia, R&D wing. Padmaja Naraharisetty Principal Mentor Soft Skills, MSIT.

Wonder Why? Leaders declare hostility,Yet it’s the soldiers who go to war,The bigger the crime and the criminal,The smaller the reach of the law. A politician lives in luxury, While the people he represents live in woe, A child gets the father’s name, Though the presence of the mother is much more. A reckless act by one, Yet some other pays the price, A child is told to speak the truth, By adults who tell lies. Role models are posters, And pop stars have many a fan, Yet very few admirers, Of the common man. Success is measured in money, And in holding positions high, And for all the injustice taking place, One can only wonder why. —— Amrita Suresh Soft Skills Mentor. IIIT.

Myself – The Blog : 5 months of ‘Learning by Doing’!! ;) I still remember the butterflies in my stomach the day I was to attend the MSIT counseling. Having secured a decent (2 digit) rank in GAT, I was in a dilemma to choose between IIIT and JNTU. Both of them, so reputed that I found it tough to make the right choice. Finally after an interview and talking to fellow aspirants, I opted for IIIT (Brand Value you know). Now that my seat in IIIT was confirmed, I was eagerly waiting for my classes to begin. I was quite happy and gleeful, that I was going to study in Triple-I-T! The orientation session took place on the last Saturday of June. The weekend wiled instantaneously and before I knew, I found myself traveling to the IIIT campus. What followed next was a back breaking MS Office workshop! Sitting for hours and hours at a stretch, without being allowed to speak to your neighbors? This was the last thing that I expected to happen in my Master’s Course. Most of us got to taste the Linux flavor of Ubuntu for the first time. Windows ‘opened’ to let Ubuntu in. Next came the business plan. Thank God….!! No deliverables. The B-Plan gave me the push and shaped my thoughts to stomach the pains and the lengths of troubles that a budding entrepreneur has to face, while hunting for funding! The Vulture (Venture) Capitalist did approve my Rs. 650 crore project. It was during this week that I saw the Dean in action with the marks list for the first time. See See See….it was C. I was so rusty during the first week that, had Fibonacci seen my program to generate his numbers, he would have never discovered the series. Enter Dean. This time to tell sternly that performance in C would play a major role in getting through the main course. Second week of C went by so fast that….hold it….the second week of C…?? I used to dream about matrices. My daily sleep average of 8 hrs per night came down to 4.5 hrs per day and was getting used to sleep early at 2AM. Night outs now had a totally different meaning. They were now meant to sit and code, rather than to sit and blabberL. Late night drives were limited to “Let Us C” as there were pointers all around. Nights were never so long. Enter Dean again. More consolidation of marks. More consistency required was the feedback. Following data structures (wish I could meet the person invented them!!) was movie management system. Why should multiplexes have come to Hyderabad? Couldn’t we have been satisfied with AC theaters, which issued color coded tickets with seat numbers written on them with sketch pens? That week, there were no nails left on my feet as well! The results were to be declared. Ram Gopal Varma movies have lesser suspense than the level of anticipations in us. Finally….short listed…! My name had made it to the list!! Then I was searching for my friends’ names in the selected list. A few were there☺. A few weren’tL. Had to say goodbyeL. It was wonderful being with them those two months.

Now it was time for the Main Course!. Walking into the elite league of extraordinary league of MSIT-ians. The thought itself made me so happy. Post OOPS (did I do it again??), THIS which was THAT, ARW(ouch that hurt!), managing data with DBMS now, with Journeys teaching us to play Counter Strike, Classiques helping us build team spirit, Writing and Listening assignments which are mandatory, Presentations that hone our speaking skills, debates and GDs for the greater good!! Looking back now, I feel very privileged to have walked along the road less taken by.

PERSONALITY OF THE MONTH A child born in a remote village in rural India, Katur present in Chittoor district dreamt an impossible dream. It was a dream which very few people of his time could have even properly understood, leave alone appreciate it. In order to follow his dream, he decided to pursue his undergraduate studies at the prestigious Guindy College of Engineering, now popularly known as Anna University. The four years he spent pursuing his Bachelors degree made him even more passionate about learning what he had already started to love. Masters followed the Bachelor’s degree and in the early 1960’s, he found himself at the University of South Wales, pursuing a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering. He later turned to the relatively new field of Computer Science, to pursue his PhD, at the Stanford University in 1966. It was his work at Stanford, while his pursuing his PhD, under the mentorship of Turing Award winner and AI pioneer, John McCarthy, which brought a total clarity in his thought. He was now motivated to dedicate his entire life towards contributing for the research and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). His work at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, in various designations, ranging from that of a professor to his current designation of Mozah Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, brought him worldwide recognition, including the most prestigious prize in the field of Computer Science, Turing Prize, in 1994. The person about whom we have spoken here is none other than Dr.Raj Reddy. As one of the early contributors to the then nascent fields of AI and Robotics, who oversaw the development of the two fields, Dr. Reddy has created a proud legacy of his own. He has created and defined many new principles and theories which are among the foundations of these two, now widely-known fields. Some of the awards received by him till date include the Turing Prize in 1994, Padma Bhusan (India) in 2001 and Legion of Honour (France’s highest civilian award) in 1984. He worked as the co-chairman of the President’s Information Technology Advisor Committee (PITAC) for Bill Clinton and was involved in the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He also serves on the Microsoft Technical Advisory Board. In India, especially in Andhra Pradesh, he is fondly remembered for his efforts in providing the fruits of development and globalisation to the people living in rural areas, and

thereby providing the children of the family with an opportunity to break free from the chains binding them from childhood. He also strongly emphasizes the need of ‘Learning by Doing’, and strongly dislikes the traditional method of theoretical education which focuses on rote learning, instead of learning by practical application of ideas. This was the drive which led to the establishment of IIIT, Hyderabad, the MSIT course emphasizing ‘Learning by Doing’, Jawahar Knowledge Center (JKC) and the 21st century Gurukulams. As a person who followed his passion at a young age and made a name for himself, by venturing into alien waters, and then dedicated himself in ensuring that the fruits of

technology reach the most backward students of Andhra Pradesh, Reddy sir’s life is an excellent source of inspiration of most of us. WHILE IN FRAME Follow me to my haven in my native village of Maruthur, tucked away in the foothills of the Western Ghats, in the God’s own country. Thannivilakkam, our ancestral home is located here in a plantation by the side of a tiny river that we call, Manithode, meaning-”Pearl Stream”. It consists of an imposing main building with a cluster of out houses. My retreat consists of a room in the loft with a wide open veranda overlooking the river. An old mango tree spreads its wings over the veranda to provide that sanctuary quality fit for quiet meditation. This room was originally the house library carefully acquired by my forefathers over the years. Books line a full wall of the room and during vacations I invariably end up in this room and get engrossed in the great books, at leisure. I was influenced by Francis Bacon’s dictum, “Reading maketh a full man”. In its day, Thannivilakkam was a miniature mansion. Now it is a little aged and few shingles were missing in patches, exposing the under structure of the tiled roof like the ribs of some starved animal. The temple festival of our family deity is during summer and it is customary for all the members to attend the function. In one such summer morning I collected some banana chips for myself and pulses and grains for my friends. Then I retired to the library. I was immersed in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” written by Harriet Beecher Stove in 1852, a very powerful anti-slavery novel which contributed much to America’s civil war and subsequent abolition of slavery. That was when my friends, Moonbeam and Robert came visiting. They were a pair of pigeons who lived in the space between the ceiling and tiles, now accessible through the space of lost shingles. I was informed by Chandu, the housekeeper’s son that Moonbeam was a proud mother now and that we should name the fledgling. One by one they showed themselves and I fed them the wheat and gram as they came. To my great surprise, the new one came and perched on the table near me fearlessly and was looking at me in a very special way. I called Chandu and we named him “Valiante”. “Since he was different, we named him Alien Since he was valiant, we called him Valiante Soon the fledgling came of age Soon he found the grandeur And the terror of the vast new spaces And then he was headed for The Great adventure of his life The supreme test of courage By which one must live or die”

One day Valiante came back from his rounds with a strikingly beautiful dove, his new found love. In a display of his might and affection, he spread the feathers of his wings and tail, and danced little pirouettes to impress her. He wooed her with his sweet murmurings and mutterings. She reciprocated by melodious cooing and they were paired for life. Chandu and I bore witness to this occasion. One late afternoon while reading, I dozed off and was woken up by a commotion in the room. I was surprised to find Lady Valiante sitting on the bedpost- shivering. It was evident that she was frightened. I got up and found few of her white feathers on the veranda floor. Then it all happened. Valiante was back in a flash and what a way to announce it! He was screeching and chasing a falcon like bird of prey. With him in the fight, you never know what to expect. Like a hurricane he unleashed his fury on the surprised and hapless opponent. One could only watch with bated breath, would he… won’t he…? And then he did with style. The falcon was down unable to take off. Chandu came and covered the grounded falcon with a net and tied it. Valiante flew a full circle screeching and then came to where we were standing. I lifted him. Alas! He was bleeding profusely. We took him to a vet, got his wounds dressed, brought him home and covered him with a piece of blanket. His lady came and sat looking at him in awe or was there a fleck of tear in her wide eyes? Early next morning we found him motionless. Valiante was gone. He protected his Lady Valiantly and did his name proud. “And so we buried him in May An early rain came with all its fury To cover the earth with water and mud And then the warm days ran around In the first week of his timelessness With the great globe spinning in its space This was the pattern which was to be his Throughout his journey to eternity The unvarying march of the seasons Of rain and thunder, sun and wind And the terror that over swept man and earth Yet buried with him was the germ of All these things and many more Under the wet earth, there where he slept And the green grass waved On the brave dove’s grave Oh! Never blame him any He done the best he can Some feel he ain’t a dove Some feel he ain’t a bird But who is really bothered Except for me and you and you!” ——Karthika I Year IIIT

The Indian IT industry- Current Picture “Come let’s talk of a software upgrade.” In the past few years the Indian IT industry has grown tremendously. Many of our IT majors are in the global league competing with the best. The whole world has had to sit up and watch with interest the scorching pace at which our companies had grown. But I strongly believe, whether it is the stock market, a country’s economy or salaries, they cannot defy the gravity for long and keep going skywards. One good example which can be taken for analysis is the BSE sensex. From 15000 levels, it rocketed to 21000 without any proper logical reason. Now it has come back to the ground below 10000 levels. In Australia conservationist welcome forest fires because they burn the outer layers of the trees which fall down and add nutrients to the soil. In the long run this helps the soil to remain fertile and nurture new life. This is nothing new, it has been happening this way there for millions of years. We are now seeing the fire season in the economy, that’s all. Am I forecasting doom days here? - Certainly No. Tough days ahead? - Definitely Yes. There are several indicators for this trend. They are: 1. US recession (Over 60% of the industry is US-centric) 2. The fading clout of the dollar. 3. Third is the increasing cost of raw materials (human resource). The following is the split up of dependencies of our software companies on different domains. From NASSCOM “Strategic Review 2004”

There is a new baseline now. The industry will have to learn to operate under the new parameters.” Anecdotal evidence suggests that fewer development projects from existing clients are coming through. The sales cycles have increased and winning new customers has become increasingly difficult. All these have started to show their impact. There is talk in the streets about delayed joining dates for campus hires by the IT Majors (at this time this sounds more as rumors to me) and slow down in the rate of lateral hires in the job market. The best indication is the news papers running recruitment advertisements. That supplement used to be at least 10 pages with half of it on software and BPO. But now it is hardly 4 pages with one or two advertisements in the software category. Certainly the situation now not the same as boom days and as Laksmi Narayanan, Nasscom chairman and VC of Cognizant said, “The current situation is not temporary”. Let’s analyze what will the consequences of this be: **CONSOLIDATION: Now is the time to separate the boys from men. The “me too” players will either get killed or get eaten up by the biggies. This is important for any industry to mature. **CHANGE: For the big players, it is likely to be just a change in strategy. But it will be difficult for Tier 2 companies who are aspiring to get into the elite league as their growth rates will slow down.

**NEWER MARKETS: The Indian companies may move over to greener pastures. The move to cheaper destinations has already started - TCS have huge centers in South America apart from Brazil in Uruguay & Santiago Chile. It is just a matter of time before they setup more in Vietnam, Cambodia and Eastern Europe (on the being closer to customer theory). I have a hunch that most companies will all be at this at various stages. Diversifying Globally: It’s been a long time since US firms embraced the outsourcing model. So I think further growth from US market seems very limited. Now is the time to explore new markets, especially Europe. It is very strong in other businesses other than software, so it should be quite easy to gain market there. South East Asia is another region where some action still remains despite the financial turmoil it went through in the 90’s. The region can not only be tapped for local markets, but also be used as satellite facilities to support their Indian counterparts. Local foray: Indian IT market is growing at a compounded annual rate of 21 percent. A few large multi-million dollar contracts like the Bharti-IBM, Dabur-Accenture and SBI-TCS deals should make the rest of industry sit up and recognize the potential of the Indian market. Recruitment and retention processes: Figures suggest that only 25 percent of the total graduates in India have employable ‘production-worthy’ skills. Fewer contracts in a sluggish economic scenario would automatically drive down the current recruitment speed. However, instead of a complete stop to all recruitment, the IT industry should use this period for a meaningful introspection and a substantial realignment of its hiring and retention processes. Innovate or perish: Cut-throat competition from global players and the falling dollar has squeezed the margins for typical run-of-the-mill work. Yes, consulting is a niche that eventually all Indian IT companies would want to get into. But basic factors like maturity (dearth of experienced consultants), perception (image of Indian IT firms as application developers and implementers) and location (failing of global delivery model in primarily client based work) will hinder any real inroads into the consulting space. The trick is to innovate. One example is Wipro’s Applied Innovation Framework lays down a roadmap for systemic change to deliver sustainable business benefits. Finally This is indeed a tricky time for the Indian IT industry, but there’s no real reason to panic. The IT czars showed great character and resilience during early 2000 following the dot com bust. This time, though the situation is much grave than the dot com bust, I am sure they are wise enough to read the signs and realize that change is in order. With a firm course correction and a better unswerving view on the long-term, the Indian IT industry can emerge stronger, bigger and more intelligent. Prashanth B, MSIT 2nd Year

This Week that year Dec 1st: 1887 - Sherlock Holmes 1st appears in print: “Study in Scarlet” 1943 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin agree to Operation Overlord (D-Day) 1959 - Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed , which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent. 1959 - The 1st color photograph of Earth received from outer space 1963 - Nagaland becomes a state of Indian union 1981 - The AIDS virus is officially recognized. 1963 - Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer 1980 - Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer Dec 2nd: 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowned emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII 1899 - US & Germany agree to divide Samoa between them 1901 - King Camp Gillette begins selling safety razor blades 1957 - 1st US large scale nuclear power plant opens (Shipping port Penn) 1971 - Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Sharjah & Umm ak Qiwain form United Arab Emirates and declare independence from UK 1816 - 1st savings bank in US opens (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society) 1901 - Gillette patents 1st disposable razor 1927 - 1st Model A Fords sold, for $385 1942 - 1st controlled nuclear chain reaction (Enrico Fermi-U of Chicago) 1971 - Soviet Mars 3 is 1st to soft land on Mars Dec 3rd: 1775 - 1st official US flag raising (aboard naval vessel Alfred) 1920 - Turkey & Armenia agree to peace treaty 1984 - 2,000 die from Union Carbide poison gas emission in Bhopal, India Dec 4th: 1674 - Father Marquette builds 1st dwelling in what is now Chicago 1920 - 1st Pro football playoff game Buffalo-7, Canton-3 at Polo Grounds 1942 - 1st US citizenship granted an alien on foreign soil (James Hoey) Dec 5th: 1776 - 1st US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), forms 1879 - 1st automatic telephone switching system patented 1893 - 1st electric car (built in Toronto) could go 15 miles between charges 1908 - 1st football uniform numerals used (University of Pittsburgh) 1950 - Sikkim becomes a protectorate of India 1975 - NASA launches space vehicle S-196, it failed Dec 6th: 1631 - 1st predicted transit of Venus (Kepler) is observed 1877 - 1st sound recording made (Thomas Edison) 1966 - Polio vaccination becomes obligatory in Belgium 1992 - 300,000 Hindus destroy mosque of Babri India, 4 die Dec 7th: 1917 - US becomes 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I 1972 - Apollo 17 (US), final manned lunar landing mission, launched 1988 - Earthquake in Armenia (>25,000 killed, 5,000,000 homeless) 1988 - 6.9 earthquake in Armenia, Spitak destroyed, 60,000 killed 1992 - Galileo spacecraft passes North Pole of Moon (Peary Crater) 1995 - US space probe Galileo begins orbiting Jupiter 1922 - 1st successful technicolor movie (Tall of the Sea), shown in NYC —— Suresh MSIT( II year) JNTU.

History of Computer Networks Studying the evolution of any area of science stimulates a natural curiosity within us to understand the achievements over these years. Also, analyzing its current trends and in evaluating the future prospects in this field. Computer Networks emerged as a science a few decades ago in the early 1960’s taking root from its predecessors the age old telephone networks which are still considered the universal instruments of communication. Telephone networks were earlier used to transmit voice data but Computer Networks have added something new in to the world of communications - giving an inexhaustible store for the information accumulated over centuries of human civilization. This information store is increasing steadily at a greater pace. Networking in a much broader sense is all about sharing and distributing the existing resources. The oldest example of a network covering large territories and serving multiple clients is the water supply system of the Ancient Rome. But how different the networks might be by their nature, they all have something in common. For example take the case of a power distribution system; a clear analogy can be drawn between the components of an electrical network and any existing computer network. The information resources in computer networks correspond to the Power generation systems and the power distribution lines are analogous to communication links in the computer networks. Both the systems have clients which are the terminals in computer networks and house hold electrical appliances in electrical networks. In the early 1950’s when computers were mammoth sized machines occupying a couple of rooms, their use was limited to privileged users. Such computers were not able to serve the users interactively. Instead jobs were processed in batches using punched cards, the intended users have to wait for days to get the results. These batch processing systems were based on main frames which were powerful and reliable computers universally. But the interactive mode of operation which gives the end user to manage and process the data on the fly was missing in this early stage of evolution of computing. With the processing power becoming cheaper by the early 1960’s computers got miniaturized and affordable by the industries, with this evolved a new technology of organizing the computers. In this process user convenience was given importance and multiterminal systems evolved. Every user had his own terminal through which he could interact with the central computing system; the response time was very less which gave the user a feeling of using entire computing power exclusively. Slowly terminals moved out on to the desktops which were used to provide input or to take the output, but the processing power remained centralized. The users had the privilege to access shared files and peripheral devices and could even run applications from the terminal which gave the results immediately. Multi-terminal systems, working in time-sharing mode, became the first step towards the development of LANs. Chronologically WANs were the first to appear in the evolution of computer networks. WANs are similar to LANs, but usually spread over a large area, like the internet or the World Wide Web. ARPANET was the first WAN developed by the Department of Defense in U.S to join the computers of defense and those of the research centers. Chronology of the most significant events in the history of computer networks First Global connections between computers Late 1960’s First proprietary LAN Early 1970’s Arrival of the first personal computers Early 1980’s Start of the commercial use of the internet Late 1980’s Invention of the World Wide Web 1991 — Siva Prasad MSIT(II Year) JNTU

Rajesh, I Year, IIIT

CREDITS : Patrons : Dr. Gopi Krishna, Dr. Srinivas Rao Editor-in-Chief : Padmaja M Editors : Amrita, George, Klinsa, Sweta Padma Design : Vishnu Special Thanks : Anandaswarup, Dilip, Karthika, Poornima, Vinay Babu