i-flex Q3 net jumps 57% to Rs 91 cr

Banking software product and service provider i-flex Solutions has reported a 57.1% y-o-y rise in net profit in the third quarter(Q3) ended December 31, 2006, reports Our Bureau. Net profit was Rs 91.05 crore against Rs 57.95 crore for the comparable period in FY06. Revenues were placed at Rs 395.56 crore(Rs 297.47 crore) translating to a 32.97% rise. On a consolidated basis, i-flex has seen its net profit at Rs 111.2 crore against Rs 48.2 crore indicating a growth of 130.7% while revenues were Rs 557.4 crore indicating a y-o-y growth of 44%. The contribution from non-Citigroup clients stood at 52% of while the product revenues rose by an impressive 52% y-o-y. Citigroup holds a controlling stake in i-flex. “We are witnessing a significant mindset change in the global financial industry with greater attention to the state of ageing core systems. The combined Oracle/i-flex force is already making a difference in winning several top tier names as customers,” said Rajesh Hukku, CMD, i-flex. “i-flex’s continued growth and success is a result of its proven ability to deliver end-to-end solutions that meets the real business needs of financial institutions around the world, addressing their most pressing concerns and arming them with competitive advantage,” said Mr R Ravisankar, CEO, international operations and business development, i-flex. “As the company is expanding global operations, we are judiciously investing in creating a highly responsive infrastructure to support growth,” said Deepak Ghaisas, CEO, India operations & CFO, i-flex. Incidentally, the contribution from non-Citigroup was placed at 52% of the revenues while the product revenues rose by an impressive 52% y-o-y. Overall i-flex added 42 new customers for the group taking the total number of customers to 723. The third quarter saw a gross addition of 989 employees taking the total staff strength of the group to 8,546 indicating a 28% y-o-y. The acquisition of Mantas brought in 25 relationships for i-flex of which 16 were new-name customers.

Cool Links to Java technology Certification sites

Sites covering study material on Java Certification

Objectives for the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java" 2 Platform : this should be the starting point of your preparation.
Java Skimmy has a tutorial based on Sun's Certification objectives.
Dylan Walsh's Website has a tutorial based on Sun's objective.
Jyothi Krishnan's website has another good tutorial directly based on Sun's objective.
Michael Thomas website has another tutorial on Java Certification.
Marcus Green's Java 2 Certification last minute tutorial is probably the most popular Java 2 certification site.
About.com's Focus on Java^TM has an article on advantages of Certification and some other links. Lots of good stuff on Java technology.
Java Tidbits from absolutejava.com has a small set of technical details that are important for Java Certification.
levteck.com has a large number of Certification links and other certification related information.
javapower.da.ru is site on Java technology (FAQs, articles etc.) in Russian.
Rick's Programming website has notes based on Java 1.1 Certification Study Guide, by Simon Roberts and Phillip Heller.

Sites covering FAQs on Java Certification

Marcus Green's Java Certification FAQ has a very thorough and detailed FAQ.
SCJP Questions and Answers by Roseanne Zhang has answers to commonly asked technical questions in FAQ. It is a good resource for certification preparation.
Dave's Java Certification page has a FAQ on Java Certification highlighting how to prepare.
Peter van der Linden has a detailed FAQ on Java language.
Java FAQ site provides a new tip on Java each day.
Java Q and A has a large set of technical question and answers on Java technology.

Mock exams for Java Certification

Sun's sample questions for the programmer exam.
Dan Chisholm web site has high quality mock exams for the SCJP 1.4 exam. It has more than 350 questions. It also has mock exam questions by topic.
Jiris.com web site has three mock exams.
Marcus Green's 1st Java Certification exam consisting of 60 questions.
Marcus Green's 2nd Java Certification exam consisting of 60 questions.
Marcus Green's 3rd Java Certification exam consisting of 60 questions.
Javacertificate.com is a site with very professional look-and-feel. It has a large pool of questions including questions organized by objectives. The site also allows users to keep track of the progress made during the preparation process.
Vals mock exam is a new mock exam with slightly tough questions.
Chris Grindstaff's Java Certification applet simulates the real exam. It is a high quality mock exam with level of difficulty higher than the real exam.
Bills Java Certification Resources has a mock exam consisting of 21 questions.
Hardest Questions Simulation has a mock exam consisting of 19 "tough" questions.
Test your Java technology's Knowledge from absolutejava.com has a few sample questions on Java Certification with detailed explanation of the answers.
JavaRanch's Java rule roundup has a set of 36 questions.
Java 2 Certification Exam Preparation has a sample test.
Mock exam software - JXAM has a free mock exam comprising of 200 questions.
Three practice tests prepared by Sreenivasa Kumar Majji.
Java Exams Simulation has four practice tests.
Khalid Mughal's exam applet consisting of 59 questions.
JDiscuss has four mock exams of 30 questions each.
Maha Anna' mock exam list is very comprehensive list of certification mock exams along with authors comments.

Commercial sites providing training for Java Certification

Practice exam offered by Sun.
JQPlus offers an exam simulator based on the new certification pattern. CertifyOnline.com provides online training for Java Certification.
DigitalThink.com has an online course for Programmer Certification that costs $325.
JCertify provides an exam simulator that costs $69.95.
jPrep is another commercial exam simulator for $35.
Whizlabs offers certification kits for various J2EE technologies

1. SCJP certification exam kit consisting of 580 questions and 6 mock exams.
2. SCJA certification exam kit consisting of 400 questions and 5 mock exams.
3. SCWCD certification exam kit consisting of 490 questions and 5 mock exams.
4. SCBCD certification exam kit consisting of 500 questions and 5 mock exams.
5. SCEA certification exam kit consisting of 432 questions and 5 mock exams.
6. SCMAD certification exam kit consisting of 490 questions and 5 mock exams.
7. SCDJWS certification exam kit consisting of 200 questions and 3 mock exams.
8. IBM J2EE certification exam kit consisting of 430 questions and 5 mock exams.
9. IBM XML certification exam kit consisting of 400 questions and 5 mock exams.
10. IBM UML certification exam kit consisting of 380 questions and 5 mock exams.
11. IBM Websphere certification exam kit consisting of 400 questions and 5 mock exams.

Discussion forums on Java Certification

Java Ranch has an extremely popular discussion forum on Java Certification.
Marcus Green's site also has a discussion forum.
JDiscuss is a new site that has discussion forums for various topics covered in Certification.

Sun certification for Web Component Development (SCWCD) resources

Whizlabs offers a high quality, reasonably priced test simulator that includes 4 Mock Tests (236 Questions), Interactive Quiz (85 Questions) and Quick Revision Tips.

Sun Java Developer certification resources

Dallas SCJD Study Group has a certification study group and lots of other useful information on Java Developer Certification.

Other Certification exams on Java technology

Brainbench provides certification exams in various technical areas including Java technology. At present they are offering one free certification exam voucher for new registrants.

Other Java technology Sites

Javaside provides code samples in Java technology, and Java technology tips.

JustJavaJobs is an online jobsite dedicated to Java professionals.

Other Technical Sites

PreparePM has free information on how to prepare for PMI's PMP examination. PMP is a very reputed certification for Project Managers.
eWebGlobe has information on various countries including capitals, population. It also has a good quiz on Geography.
Certify Express has free information about a lot of certification exams like Microsoft, CISCO, Novell etc.

IT-Careernet is a useful site for IT Professionals seeking jobs, full-time careers, or contract consulting opportunities in the U.S and Europe. The site allows users to post jobs and resumes online free of charge.

Mock Exams :

Java Certification Mock Exam
Practice Test for the Sun Certifed Java 1.1 Programmer Exam
Exam Simulation
Java Certification Questions
Mock Java Certification Exam 1 Exam 2
Certification Sample Questions
MindQ Prepares you for Sun Certification
JavaRanch
Java Certification Mock Exam by John Hunt
Mock Exam Software - Jxam
IBM's Pre-Assessment test for Test 310-023, Sun Certified Java Programmer Test, JDK 1.1
Jargon - A simulation tool for SCJP Exam (contains 140 sample questions for free)
There are three types of test: basic, intermediate and advanced. Eventhough it is not specifically intended for SCJP exam, you can try.
Sun Certified Java Programmer - Practice Exam
Tutorial and a practice test
Java 2 Programmer Certification Exam Simulation Applet - Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4
Quiz and Review Applets
Java certification Question & Answers
Hardest Question Collection
JTest
Test Yourself
Test Your Java Knowledge
Srivathsan's homepage

Some more sites on Certification :
Sun's site
Java Certification and Reference
Java Study Group
Java Certification Head QuartersThey also have a discussion group at Earthweb Discussions - and the newsgroup is earthweb.gocertify.java
Sun Java Certification - Organized by Topics
Focus on Java Certification - The Mining Co.
Old website or SCJP Revision Guide
Java Sun Certification
Java Certification Study Guide - notes
Java Programmer Certification Notes
Free Java Certification Training
The Java Skinny
Guide to Certification
Java Certification
Java Study Notes
Information about SCJP, SCJD, SCJA
Free online course
Theoritical Question and Answers related to Java Certification Applied Reasoning's Java Certification Mock Exam
Java Tidbits
Jahann's Java Home
Vivek's home page - Notes and links to mock exams
your tool for Java Certification

“The Awesome Green Route” Trek itinerary from Donigal to Yedukumari railway tracks…

Last वीकएंड we went for trekking the abandoned railway line between ‘Donigal‘ to ‘Yadakumari‘. Donigal is a small station near by Sakleshpur (a town on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway). We were a group of seven people, all my college friends. We left from majestic bus stop ,Bangalore around 11pm on Friday night and reached Sakleshpur in the early morning 4 am. After taking some refreshment we went to Donigal station and our trekking started from there. The initial part was good and easy then we came across series of bridges and tunnels. There are total 19 tunnels and some 25 bridges on the way. Some of the bridges are as high as 250 ft. the best part was that you walk and eat in between and the whole route is so green and calm that you will feel like staying there for hours. You may feel tired in between so, do carry some glucose, juicy fruits and lots of water. Ya having a torch is also a must bcoz without it you can’t get out of tunnels. There are some of tunnels which are as long as 500 meter. We walked whole day on an off and finally reached Yedukumari railway station by 3pm in the afternoon. Yadakumari is just a small railway station in the middle of the forest. All you get there is some accommodation to sleep in and off course natural chill water all time.Our plan was to take a short cut route from Yadakumari and reach the near by highway by evening and get back to Sakleshpur bus stop to catch the night bus forBangalore.But there started the real twist in the story, we started for the shortcut highway route and unfortunately got into a wrong direction and had to return back to Yadakumari station by sunset. Then we planed to stay back at Yadakumari station for the whole night and that was the worst part of the trek. The night was really chill and we had not planed for night stay there. Anyway somehow the darkness of night got over and in the morning we started again to reach highway but this time we had few other groups with us .The route to the highway is some 4 km from Yadakumari station. 1 km you skid down the forest shortcut and walk the other 3 KM on Jeep track. At the end of the road to the highway is a big river. Crossing the river was again the great fun though it is not a deep river but do not try this out at night. You can have a bath and some refreshment to feel charged again. After crossing the river we saw the Mangalore-Bangalore highway and got a bus for Bangalore in few minutes and by evening we reached Bangalore.Hey I forgot to mention about leeches near by water streams or marshy areas. Please watch out for them bcoz they are really gonna suck your blood if you ignore them.

Do take:
· Food for everyone for a whole day Water, glucose, fruits.
· A torch for everyone, candle, match box.
· Warm clothes - a good jacket will do.
· Good pair of shoes.
· A Digital Camera is must to capture the so much of beautiful surroundings.
· Salt to get rid of leeches.

Don’t take:
Heavy baggage.

बेस्ट टिम तो विसित:
You can go round the year, but I suggest don’t go in rainy season.

Some thought provoking Books for Entrepreneurs

I got this list of books from ZeroToMillion.com and the list looked exhaustive and hence wanted to share this with all who are taking time to visit my blog:

Personal Development
* Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
* The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
* Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion by Napoleon Hill
* How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
* The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill
* The Student Success Manifesto by Michael Simmons
* Secrets of the Young & Successful Jennifer Kushnell
* Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
* Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
* The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D

Entrepreneurship
* Zero to One Million by Ryan P. M. Allis
* Zero to IPO by David Smith
* Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
* Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
* New Venture Creation by Jeffrey Timmons
* Good to Great by Jim Collins
* The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
* The Young Entrepreneurs’Edge by Jennifer Kushnell
* The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting and Running a Business by Steve Mariotti
* The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship by William D. Bygrave
* Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
* Good to Great by Jim Collins
* At Work with Thomas Edison by Blain McCormick
* Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen
* On Entrepreneurship by Harvard Business Review
* Entrepreneurship.com by Tim Burns
* The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
* Fire in the Belly - an exploration of the entrepreneurial spirit by Yanky Fachler

Globalization & Economics
* The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman
* The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
* The Commanding Heights by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw
* Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal by Ball and Dagger
* The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L Heilbroner
* Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets by John McMillan
* The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto
* Economics by Stanley and Brue
* Macroeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw
* Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy by Joseph A. Schumpeter
* International Business by Charles W. H. Hill
* Against the Dead Hand by Brink Lindsey

Marketing
* The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen
* The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
* Obtaining a #1 Ranking in the Search Engines by Ryan Allis
* What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith
* Building Thousands of Links to Your Site by Ryan Allis
* Net Results 2 by Rick E. Bruner
* Protégé Training Program by Jay Abraham
* Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
* Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
* Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
* Principles of Marketing by Kotler and Armstrong

It was a great fun and experience at BarCamp, Bangalore 2.0 .. For details read on..

It was really a nice experience at BarCamp,Bangalore 2.0 . sessions were really good and informative and all arrangement was proper.I really enjoyed each and every moment of organizing this event along with my other friends. i would also like to thank ThoughtWorks for their keen interest in supporting and sponsoring this event.
Some interesting sessions I attended
Fixed Price, Off-shore and Agile Software Development: (How) does that work? - Marco Jansen ThoughtWorks.
DIY HackDay - Logistics and Lessons [Jay Fichialos]
Card Walls v/s Competitive Dancing - [Deven Tolia]
Web 2.0 Business Models [Sowmya Karmali]
How Innovators Connect - Sharing Experiences of Leading Silicon Valley Innovators (Rohit Agarwal )
Building Ajax web applications using GWT
Commute Easy - Car Pooling in Bangalore (http://www.commuteeasy.com/ )
SlideShare - Jon, CTO, SlideShare (http://www.slideshare.com/ )
Activ by Sidu ,TW (http://www.inactiv.com/ )
OneBigWeb by Harish (http://www.onebigweb.com/ )
Stockhive by Yogi ,TW (http://www.stockhive.com/ )
BTW, here are all the pictures of the event at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/barcampbangalore2