tlug: KPCA 11/19/97 Meeting

[drg@example.com]

NOTE:  MEMBERS FREE!!!!

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  ***  Kansai Professional Computing Association News ***
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NOVEMBER PRESENTATION:    Software Development Outsourcing to India
Speaker: Qunio Takashima, President/founder: Technology Interlink
Management, K.K.
11/19/97-Wed, 6:45-9:00pm. Club KARMA's event hall, 5 minutes from Osaka JR.


US companies have been outsourcing software projects to India for over 15
years.  Since 1992, India's software industry has logged a steady and
healthy annual growth rate of around 50%. Software exports earned US$1.2
billion during fiscal 1996-97 of which 90% is attributed to consulting
services, projects, and turnkey assignments. The next two years will bring
larger growth as India's software industry grabs part of the US$1 trillion
necessary to fix the millineum bug (Y2K).

Outsourcing Talk Outline:
- Mechanisms and structure driving the trend of software outsourcing
- The tools and methodologies for successful outsourcing
- Competitiveness of India with other countries
- The point of view of Japanese organizations
- The future of software development across international borders

Mr. Takashima obtained his degree in Electrical Engineering from Tokyo
University before going on to MIT in Boston. He is now influencing opinion
leaders and decision makers throughout the world.  He has spoken at the MIT
Enterprise Forum, Japan India Venture Association Conference, India Summit,
as well as events like Software Development Environment Seminar (formerly
known as CASE Japan) on topics ranging from "Technology Policy in the 90's"
to "Status of Software Outsourcing from Japan to India".

PRICE: Through special arrangements with Club KARMA, the meeting fee is
FREE for paid up annual members, others: 1000 yen(!). Drinks/food will be
available starting at 300/600 yen.  Invite your friends!

OCTOBER MEETING:
We're all familiar with those little red and green LEDs, but have you ever
seen a blue one?  If you haven't, it's not surprising.  Their appearance is
quite recent.

Gerhard Fasol, co-author of the recent book "The Blue Laser Diode",
presented a talk at the October meeting of the Kansai Professional
Computing Association entitled "The Blue Laser Diode: Towards a New
Japanese R&D Paradigm."  The talk covered the background and implications
of the introduction of blue LED & laser technology by a relatively small
Japanese company called Nichia Chemical Industries, as well as structural
issues involved in technology R&D in Japan.

The blue LEDs have a surprisingly wide range of applications, including
very large display screens, like the one at Shibuya Hachiko station in
Tokyo (which uses 300,000 blue LEDs), long-lasting energy-efficient traffic
lights, FAX, and color printer technology.

Blue lasers are expected to soon appear in a new generation of
DVD-technology.  CDs currently in common use each hold about 650 megabytes
of data.  The blue laser HD-DVD should provide roughly 50 times that much
storage (30 gigabytes) on a disk of the same size.  After the initial price
comes down, energy-efficient LEDs may even replace conventional
incandescent light bulbs.

How was Nichia able to beat its much larger multinational competitors to
the punch?  The answer lies largely in the determined study and effort of a
small group of researchers led by Dr. Shuji Nakamura, who were given by
Nichia the resources and freedom to work on Gallium-Nitride materials that
the larger companies had already abandoned.  Mr. Fasol's talk covered
several problems that came up during the development and manufacture of the
new materials and how these problems were solved by Dr. Nakamura.  As a
result of this focused hard work, Nichia now sells one to two million blue
LEDs per month, and is said to have working laser prototypes that last over
10,000 hours. Which means it is NOW A VIABLE COMMERCIAL PRODUCT!  To this
day, Nichia is still a couple years ahead of the corporate giants.

Gerhard Fasol is president and founder of Eurotechnology Japan KK.  A
resident of Japan since 1991, Mr. Fasol has worked as Lab Manager for
Hitachi, and as an Associate Professor at Tokyo University.  He is the
first non-Japanese to complete a Sakigake Research Project for the Japan
Science and Technology Corp. Mr. Fasol is a founding member of a national
R&D initiative geared toward "Spin Electronics".  Along with Dr. Nakamura,
he is co-author of the book "The Blue Laser Diode," published by Springer.

SPEAKERS SOUGHT! The KPCA is looking for speakers for future meetings. Come
promote your pet project/product, your career.

Email any/all response to:
Dennis Grass, KPCA-President

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RESPONSE PLEASE! FORM

__  I can probably attend on Wednesday, Nov. 19 (Outsourcing software to India)
__  Oops, I'm busy on the 19th. Please keep me informed of future events.
__  I can probably attend on Wednesday, Dec. 17 (Artificial Intelligence)
__  I can probably attend on Wednesday, Jan. 21

__  Yes!  I am interested in speaking at a KPCA meeting.
        My proposed topic:


---------------------------------------------------------------
TLUG Thursday evening meeting: Nov. 13, 18:40 at Tokyo station
Starbuck's coffee.  Then move to dinner place at 19:00
info: demian@example.com | TLUG Saturday meeting is Dec. 13, 1997
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