Pentalog Group through its subsidiary Pentalog Technology just won a multi-year contract of $4,5 million per year for engineering services of the highest level. It is the largest contract in our history.

Additional information will follow in the coming weeks. A big thank you to all those, inside or outside the group, who contribute to our global exposure!

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Tuan and I just returned from a long weekend in Singapore. Our mission was simple: launch a first approach into the Asian nearshore market for our Vietnamese subsidiary. I would like to note, however, that we didn’t see many companies and we are not about to make a quick decision on this matter. We have time and presently I am speaking only in terms of an exploratory approach. We will also soon go to Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei.

I had never been to Singapore and Tuan neither. Our impression is rather unclear. Is this truly Asia? This 100% English speaking population, this ultra clean city, incredibly monitored, with a crime rate near 0 confuses us, both in the same way, despite our differences.

Singapore is also an amazing construction site, worthy of the Kings of France or the Pharaohs of Egypt – I am thinking about the Sands Casino (the same as The Sands of Las Vegas) which is absolutely amazing – and the incredible density of skyscrapers. But something else surprised me. There is no trace of an embarrassing construction site. No mud behind the trucks, no piles of construction materials. Professionalism is the rule everywhere. This is remarkable and almost oppressive.

I would like to revisit Singapore with an architect and an urban planner to better understand how it works, how traffic can be so smooth, despite the incredible population density. But also to understand how the air can be also so breathable in a place so close to the equator and so populated. I could not help thinking of Voltaire… Singapore… is this, the place, of an enlightened dictatorship advocated by the French philosopher? In any case, what is certain is that Singaporeans do not want to change anything, especially not the political system. It is very surprising because we also visited an IT exposition where we were faced with the behaviour of people displaying collective madness, with people creating an ambiance of excitement, singing or screaming the prices, spontaneous auctions, and promotional papers thrown around the aisles of the show. In any case… this is Asia.

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Several times lately we mentionned Israel on Pentablog (From Amsterdam to Tel Aviv and Israel my entrepreneurial dream), and today we can reveal a little more about it to you… The negotiations with our future associate partners in Tel Aviv have led to an agreement to launch our commercial operations there. We will rely on two very experienced people who have the ambition to do at least as well in Israel as Pentalog realized recently in Germany (€ 2M in sales barely 2 years after the creation of the subsidiary Pentalog Deutschland). Our expectations from this market are as high as opportunities are numerous.

Administrative issues related to our establishment are being finalized, the launch of the web site pentalog.co.il, the first e-marketing operations are imminent. Efforts to make us known to the Israeli IT community are already under way, through social networking. Our first lead has arrived already; it has started strong, with a development project for a large international organization.

Israel is one more string to our bow, and will contribute to consolidate our international position with a direct presence in the heart of this business community and in a renown high-tech center, with a strong culture of innovation and of entrepreneurship: third source of world-wide companies listed on the Nasdaq, after the U.S. and China, in sixth position (per capita) in obtaining the Nobel prize, No. 1 in the number of start-ups. This very young country with turbulent history is fascinating and will surely have many new things to teach us.

In addition to Israel, there is not less than 3 other countries in which we are preparing to launch new operations in the near future. We are now able to generate and multiply very quickly all kinds of opportunities to produce and sell outsourcing services with high added value in the world. And it is by establishing strong partnerships in complementary geographical, economic, technical and cultural environments that will ensure further sustainability of our growth and globalization strategy and. We will not stop here!

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In talking with our two Pierres we realized that only basing the discussion on the kilowatt or K€ of electricity was not sufficient and certainly not specific enough to our business. I acknowledge however that the annual Pentalog energy bill still makes me wince and, like everybody, its reduction interests me.

How can it be more specific in regards to our business? What are the additional elements which should be considered when thinking on how to reduce energy consumption of server rooms and work environments?

When considering how to cut up a camembert cheese (ah yes!) it became quickly obvious to me. The question is really not how much the cheese factory President annually consumes in electricity, but rather what is the amount of energy (and its negative variations) necessary to produce ONE camembert cheese, from the farmer and his cows to the truck that takes it to the supermarket? Thus reduced to a tangible unit our reflection becomes easier to both the producer of the cheese, and for the person eating the camembert!

We thus return to the metric system! What is the amount of energy needed to produce the average Pentalog software? And a line of code?!?

And then, using my example of the camembert, I had stopped before adding the distribution, but why not incorporate it into my reasoning in the case of software? So I should ask how my application will reach the end user. Via a poor corporate server? Which works all day and even during the night, for ten users who work 8 hours per day? Which runs an antivirus and backup solution, for few as 10 documents produced each day and dozens of mails! Is this reasonable?

Should I continue? Ok, a well designed software will have to be able to function from a cloud, which can afford to have a server room (because it functions 24 hrs. 7/7 to meet the needs around the world). So first, we need a newer architecture. But perhaps a good software avoids queries on the server given in a disorderly manner, without taking into account possible clustering of identical queries or coordination of tasks. Finally, a well-designed software, according to the well established criteria of our profession, would offer better performance and give better satisfaction to its user, would also have the added advantage of being less demanding on the processors and nuclear power plants! Cool, these good methods are coming to the rescue of the planet.

Finally, and because we would like to address all the issues together, we also wondered what would be the impact of choosing “low costing” for our Pentalog production. This is the question which is much more intellectually complicated, because we must consider, in terms of CO2, several parameters:

- France produces through its nuclear power stations, electricity… neutral in terms of emissions (but with the degree of risk associated with the use of this technology).
- Pentalog management travels a lot, including by airplane
- Employees of French IT companies often travel several kilometers from their place of contract work to reach their customers, and using all sorts of transport
- Employees of Pentalog offshore sites usually live close to their work (a few hundred meters to several kilometers). They walk, they take buses. Those who have cars never travel more than 10 kms.

The last two points should be considered when looking at a workforce of 450 employees.

We will then structure a “Green IT” proposition optimizing 4 promises:

1. Production: quality of the computers, servers, network elements and air conditioning equipment. Seek to minimize business travel related to production. And finally, continuous evaluation and improvement of productivity (the quicker we meet our schedule; the less we consume electricity in the production cycle – in accordance with point 3).
2. The service sector involving the administrative, commercial work, and travel related to these two aspects.
3. The use of the sold product. Throughout the lifespan of the product, it will need an operating environment in order to minimize the need for power through good architecture and a clean code. Reflection is required concerning all aspects that could improve the energy consumption and increase the lifespan of the application equipment servers.

Of course, Pentalogs’ Green IT policy is fully associated with its proposition for a future Cloud.

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I do not do this often… here is a Facebook message I wrote a few days ago.

Something else is surprising me: francophony! Over 50% of our Hanoi team now speak French! And 8 of them have studied in France: Paris Dauphine, ENST Paris, Paris 6 (Pierre et Marie Curie), Paris 7, Toulouse… The result: 0% failure since the creation of Pentalog Vietnam!

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- IT bosses plan to hire permanent staff (08 March 2010, Computing)
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- Google opens new apps store for businesses (11 March 2010, Business and Leadership)
- Entrepreneurship will fuel fire of economic regrowth (11 March 2010, Business and Leadership)
- The number cruncher’s guide to delivering IT value (11 March 2010, CIO)
- Are Your Outsourcer’s Prices Too Low? (11 March 2010, CIO)
- 90pc of Irish firms say outsourcing adds value (12 March 2010, Business and Leadership)
- R&D pitfalls for start-ups (15 March 2010, Business and Leadership)
- Why the New Normal Could Kill IT (15 March 2010, CIO)
- Outsourcing, social networking, iPods: HR IT’s top trends (09 March 2010, Silicon)
- Deutsche Exporteure erleiden „katastrophalen“ Rückschlag (10 March 2010, Handelsblatt)
- Umstrittene Bitkom-Initiative: Brauchen wir eine deutsche Cloud? (15 March 2010, Computerwoche)
- Arbeitsmarkt für Informatiker: 15.000 offene IT-Stellen (15 March 2010, CIO)
- Business und IT: Sie verstehen sich einfach nicht (12 March 2010, CIO)
- Outsourcing on Demand: Die Mär von variablen Kosten (09 March 2010, Computerwoche)
- Virtualisierung ja, Cloud Computing nein (09 March 2010, Swiss IT Magazine)

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Pentalog has grown a lot and has succeeded in taking on important contracts with some of the largest companies in the world. Larger… means listed, it means also more media-orientated, with more charters, more visible, and more… politically correct. And I am not throwing stones at them, it is just the system. But of course we must follow them in this political system. Our services must be compatible and easy to incorporate for them.

I must say at this moment my little fellow entrepreneurs make me laugh on Facebook. Hey guys, I don’t mean to hurt you but it is turning ridiculous: the one with the greenest networks, or those who propose the latest green gadget or a thingamajig in rattan. What energy!! But what to do, how can I avoid plunging us into this collective hysteria precisely because Pentalog is now a supplier, sometimes strategic, for super green enterprises?

I admit we have thought about this question with more consideration for the communication associated with it than for the level of CO2 produced by our activities. I am one of those who think, on a more personal level, that the solution to the problems of the planet can be found more in the philosophies and religions than in consumer behaviour. They must be integrated into the energy requirements of raising livestock for meat, energy for tractors which are required to produce grain, and fishing boats that are used to feed 6 billion people. In the three major monotheistic religions, you are inded asked to “grow and multiply.” And I do not think I’ve heard to date, of a green version of these three books. The variation of this dictate that has come down from on high has won both the Conservatives over, and of course, the Left, as demonstrated particularly in France, with the weight of the law in favour of family policies the country proclaims with so much passion as Christine Boutin!

So yes, of course, when we are 6 billion (of merry repugnant revellers, as the poet says), it’s necessary to organize ourselves, to cultivate, produce, fish… In short, I do not believe this millenarian bla bla (storms, grasshoppers, soon we will say that these repetitive earthquakes are the result of oil extraction!). And in a few more years maybe we will be switching over to a new form of post industrial animism which would make Pasteur and Leibniz both laugh, wherever they are now.

But why not? From the 1950’s to 1970’s, informed scientists told the French people that they had to eat at least 5 dairy products per day (I think it was rather a means to consume the surplus)… and they did, committing themselves resolutely to the path of cholesterol for all! But let’s forget about rationalism, the Grenelle Environment Round Table and the Picnic tax has showed us the way and we all will soon be eating just fresh mint. Pentalog will then become green with the same conviction as the rest of the enterprises… My opinion does not count.

In this case, if we have to do it, why not think outside the box of a green IT (consumption of servers, air conditioning, server rooms and offices), of course without forget it but pose the real energy issues connected to the production of software? After all, scientists who talk about this subject show that truth is not necessarily within the reach of anybody. So here we go, let’s get on this paradigm of chlorophyll and look deeper into this question. So I used a specialized firm, led by two friends, less skeptical than myself and more scientific, and with the assistance of Pierre Peutin we are examining what could be a green IT software industry.

Continued…

PS: I do not want to sound like a reactionary. I do not see the interest in making smoke when you can avoid doing so. I do believe in renewable energy and efficiency. I do not believe however that they can bring us, any more than any other innovation, the solution to a problem which is essentially a demographic problem, a problem of extracting water or desalinate, or the question of mass production of proteins and carbohydrates. To the overall issue, I see no solution and I fear that these observations, today address less than 5% of the problem.

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Last week I attended a breakfast concerning the migration from French ETEBAC protocols to EBICS / SEPA for bank telecommunication applications. I believe it would be of interest to share this information with everyone, so that all small and medium-sized businesses can prepare for this migration of their communications system with their banks.

ETEBAC, what is it?

I’ll start first by putting certain elements into their context by recalling that this is the standard inter-bank telecommunication application. ETEBAC which means “Exchange TElematiques BAnque Clients” has been used since 1991. It allows a company to exchange files (account extracts, transfers, BOR, etc…) with its banks. I emphasize the plural of the word bank as it only makes sense if the company works with several banks on one hand, and secondly, if it wishes to automate its dealings with them.

There are several versions of ETEBAC:

This protocol works on the basis of flat files of fixed length.

Why is it going to change?

On July 1, 2011, maintenance and the marketing network TRANSPAC will cease to operate. This will result in the termination of banking protocols operating under X25 (ETEBAC 3, ETEBAC 5, etc.). These protocols will then migrate to Internet networks.

With the end of the Transpac network, the banks will therefore be obliged to use other standards such as:

These new protocols will operate on the internet and use XML. Among the notable developments, I can cite the lengthening of the text zone from the current 30 characters, to 140 characters and the abandonment of the bank identification form, for the IBAN which has a more European context.

What will change?

Concretely, this means that a company should verify its information system to see if it will be compatible with these new changes (changes from traditional bank identification form to IBAN, compatibility of software used, etc…). If this is not the case, then the company should contact a provider who will audit the IS and propose the most appropriate solution.

This new standard will oblige the banks to perform better, in terms of turnaround time (D +1 working day) and the application of invoicing for European transfers.

But I think we should be very careful about the offers that are being proposed because presently, all banks do not propose the same protocol and also each bank will offer different solutions according to the protocol they have chosen. We must be very vigilant concerning the coherence of the information system in order to use a single protocol, which is entirely possible.

Who will be affected?

The choice of using EBICS depends on the number of banks with which a company interacts. Let’s say if the company is only working with one bank, to implement a simple solution like EDI via the website of the bank would be adequate.

In the case the company is working with several banks and wishes to automate the exchanges then it should move towards an EBICS protocol.

For the rest, in the case of very large companies or to companies that perform many daily transactions, it may be more helpful to approach the SWIFT protocol.

Companies must address the issue now to be ready to change over as of July 1, 2011.

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- Web start-ups generate fast return – Collins (03 March 2010, Business and Leadership)
- Open-source hardware takes steps toward gadget mainstream (04 March 2010, CIO)
- Cloud Computing’s Three Revolutions: Part 3 (04 March 2010, CIO)
- Dublin gets ready for European City of Science 2012 (04 March 2010, Business and Leadership)
- Romania rises as outsourcing target (05 March 2010, The Diplomat)
- Improve productivity with Agile Scrum development (03 March 2010, CIOL)
- Swedish Appetite for Outsourcing Doubles (02 March 2010, Waters News)
- CeBIT 2011: Neues Konzept (08 March 2010, Silicon)
- IT-Recht 2010: Worauf sich Unternehmen gefasst machen müssen (03 March 2010, Manager Magazin)
- IT-Industrialisierung bei Banken: An SOA führt kein Weg vorbei (03 March 2010, CIO)
- Software für den Aufschwung (03 March 2010, FTD)

3 days to present our services, contact potential clients and prospective suppliers, explaining the concept of Offshore, and how it works and discovering new products and concepts.

3 days is definitely too short!

Speaking of products and concepts, the main idea that I have retained from this trade show is that the Embedded business is turned resolutely towards the End User, to make his life and the use of new High Tech technology easier:

• The HMI has become very intuitive and clean: touch screens, motion sensors, acoustic sensors… Intel has built a wall dedicated to the customer in a store (clothing and shoes): half transparent allowing for the selection of an article in the store (as shown on the screen) and information concerning prices etc., all downloadable to your Smartphone, the other half is a touch screen to show you wearing the selected items by means of multiple cameras embedded in the wall.

• Robotics were also very present with flying cameras for video surveillance, mechanical spiders for hazardous environments, and robotic arms that can keep a stick balanced on their fingertips…

• Concrete applications in different sectors and occupations that will link computers and electronics with simplified applications (allowing the end-user to refocus on its core business and not on the need for technical knowledge of the tools): medical (patient monitoring, disability aids…), military (vision, guidance, and logistics), industry (assembly, logistics), M2M (communication and action)…

• Mobility: Smartphones were also very present at the show. All major manufacturers were fighting around the portability between Symbian, RMI, and Android. The iPhone was absent from this portability (strange isn’t it? ).

In short, Thomas and I got back on the road to our office in Frankfurt with our heads full of images and new ideas. It is now up to us to find some way to use them!