Indian outsourcing firms outsource jobs

India`s back-office service providers are starting to outsource work overseas, to tap new markets and offer outsource clients more than one outsource location, reports Reuters.

Among others, Infosys Technologies` back-office subsidiary Progeon has opened a centre in the Czech Republic, while Mphasis BFL`s arm MSource has a contact centre in Mexico. WNS Global Services, India`s largest independent back-office services firm, is opening a centre in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Sujay Chohan, research director of Gartner India, said geographical diversity was important for backing-up data for disaster recovery purposes and the ability to offer different language skills.

IBM and Intel plan to announce a new step in their efforts to establish their technology as a dominant player in the growing blade server technology field, reports CNET News. Blade servers are expected to account for 29% of server shipments in 2008.

The companies plan to announce that third-party companies can more easily create devices such as network switches or special-purpose servers that plug into the blade server chassis.

While plug-in interfaces are more open, the chassis design remains closed, meaning that only IBM, Intel and their business partners will be able to sell them.

"I don`t really consider this an open standard or even an industry standard," says Gartner analyst John Enck. "This is simply IBM and Intel publishing their specification for their hardware so companies can produce products for it."

Soon debt collectors, telemarketers and stalkers will be able to pretend to be someone else to make you answer your phone, thanks to a caller ID spoofing service launched in the US.

Information Week reports that the Star38 service allows users to send misleading information to phones that display caller ID information. The service will let collection agencies and others avoid breaking laws that prohibit them from using phoney phone numbers when they try to collect money, says Star38. The service will provide them with a legitimate phone number, but one that can`t be associated with the actual caller.