Bharti Airtel offers musical services to its customers

Another feather in Cellebrum’s multi-faceted cap; Airtel, the country's largest mobile service provider has created a music bank of 10,000 songs in 17 regional languages—over 3000 in Hindi alone—in association with Cellebrum. To read the entire article click on the clipping attached below:

Financial Express
Kolkata, 07, 07, 2007

Cellebrum Standardizes on Envox CT ADE(TM) to Speed Development of Mobile with Services

A must read article on Cellebrum and its innovations; covering in detail the latest developments at Cellebrum that will have a positive impact on the VAS arena.

Westborough, Mass., (ANTARA News/PRNewswire--AsiaNet) - Envox Worldwide, a leading global provider of voice solutions, today announced that Cellebrum, an MCorpGlobal Group company and Asia's leading value-added services provider, has standardized on Envox CT ADE(TM), one of the most widely used interactive voice response (IVR) development tools in the industry. Cellebrum will use Envox CT ADE for the development and deployment of mobile value-added service (VAS) solutions for its service provider customers. Cellebrum chose Envox CT ADE for its rapid development capabilities which provide the company with a competitive advantage that ensures faster deployment of new services and custom developed solutions.Mr. Mark D. Flanagan, president and CEO of Envox Worldwide, said, "To gain a business advantage in one of the largest and most competitive mobile markets in the world, organizations such as Cellebrum must be the first to offer cutting edge solutions that ensure clear differentiation and create new revenue opportunities for their service providers." He added, "We are proud that Cellebrum's team felt that Envox CT ADE provided them with the flexibility and rapid development capabilities required to capitalize on the significant market opportunities they see."Cellebrum used Envox CT ADE to create a series of VAS solutions including voice mail, mobile radio and speech-enabled access to news, stock quotes, sports scores and horoscopes. The company has designed a new and innovative solution, Background Music, which enables users to create their own ambience by playing user-specified songs in the background during a call. Cellebrum has also used Envox CT ADE to develop IVR solutions for downloading games and songs among other items.Mr. Saket Agarwal, COO of Cellebrum, stated, "Developing with Envox CT ADE reduced our service creation time by more than 80 percent, and time-to-market is vital in the highly competitive market in which we operate. Further, utilizing Envox CT ADE enables us to concentrate on creating innovative solutions that leverage new standards and emerging technologies rather than expending resources to remain abreast of the current technologies. This has enabled us to consistently offer fresh and innovative services and contribute to the growth of the VAS industry overall."By using Envox CT ADE as the development tool for its VAS solutions, Cellebrum has been able to slash development time by 80 percent. Envox CT ADE offers a host of utilities that have enabled Cellebrum to create and deploy voice applications more efficiently than was possible with traditional APIs. In addition, it provides integration for advanced speech recognition technologies and handles the wide range of telephony protocols found at customer sites including ISDN, VoIP, SS7, R2 and more. Cellebrum has leveraged these capabilities to quickly and cost-effectively launch its VAS solutions. Additionally, they have been able to cut the time needed to regionalize their solutions by about 60 percent.Today, Cellebrum handles over 15 million calls per month with Envox-based solutions. These new services have increased its revenues by up to 60 percent and the rapid time-to-market has enabled Cellebrum to achieve its ROI in less than one month.For more information about Envox CT ADE, or to download an evaluation version of the tool, please visit http:/ www.envox.com/software/envox-ct-ade.asp.

About Cellebrum

Cellebrum is Asia leading's value added mobile service and solution provider. Its vision is to be the #1 home for trusted, rich and compelling services in the area of mobile infotainment and commerce by touching the lives of 20% mobile customers around the world by 2010. We are a technology enabler in a wire-free world connecting data source or application to any device & make mobile phone an integrated communications device, with the ability to provide information and perform real time online transactions anytime... anywhere...With strong IT foundations and an excellent mobile domain understanding in providing end to end solutions (Telecom, Roaming & Enterprise) and Value Added Services has helped us in emerging as one of the leading Wireless Application Providers in Asia. This proficiency is further strengthened by our 3G competence R&D Centre in SingaporeWe embody unyielding momentum of innovation with a passion and formidable ability to effectively leverage revenue-enhancing opportunities for our customers. All our solutions are built on open industry standards and offer an unmatched ability to customize. We constantly strive to find simple ways of solving complex business issues. Thereby leading ideas to implementation...www.cellebrum.com.

Envox WorldwideEnvox

Worldwide is a leading global provider of voice solutions. The company's software and related services dramatically reduce the time, cost, and complexity of creating voice solutions. These products and services enable enterprise customers and service providers to significantly reduce operating costs, improve customer satisfaction and retention, and generate new revenue streams. Headquartered in Boston, Envox's products and services are available through a network of global channel partners. For more information, please visit http://www.envox.com/.

BK Modi group—overseas expansion plans

Economic Times, July 06, 2007

Does VAS Appeal to anyone...?

Can VAS ever be a Mass appeal product or meant for Classes? Is it for Rich or Poor? Does it have anything to do with the Region - developed / developing? Is it plain Euphoria or sustainable? Well, well, well... Lots of questions and we do have answers and no, not from any whims or fancies of a consultant, on actual REAL data.....

Teaser - Would an average urbane Delhite use ringtone/music more than a rustic Bihari Babu? or a sleepy village in the desert(ed) Rajasthan be more inclined to know bollywood affairs then a socialite of Mumbai ?

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It is simple. No surprise. You were of course right....!!!! Yes ... Trophy Goes to the land of Lalu and Forts.. Why?

Well, it is interesting to know that part too!

In a social setup, human needs are enhanced or curbed by social norms, culture, environment etc etc.. It kind of "conditions" human to live within the LIMITATIONS ... (remember the impact of conditioning on the Elephant in circus! tied with a innocous chain, it does not even try its might to break free...).

But, people who are dis-satisfied with this social setup and are BOLD enough, move to greener pastures... That is how you find lots of migrant labour (both the illiterate and highly literate) across the country and Globe.... But this BOLD enough is only a fraction of the total dis-satisfied lot, who are waiting for the CHANGE at the same place.. It is not hidden that in last 10 years, their has been change at a rapid pace across sectors and telecom has revolutionised the whole thing (from 1.8% penetration to 21% penetration) at the most affordable rate in the World.

So, what does this mean? It allowed people to communicate and EXPLORE.. It allowed that dis-satisfied lot to enjoy all that was not allowed ... Like no power, no television, but with mobile, music whets that latent need... Social taboo on taking the friend out, mobile chatting fulfils that... No hang-out places for new friends, mobile dating (find-a-friend) allows exactly that... Missing out on even going out to theatre (and filmi gup-shup), all of it gets fulfilled with phone through news, movie-gossips, latest ringtones and wallpapers (all colours)... Suddenly, you start feeling contemporary

That just explains why a Bihar - full of all possible issues from very limited entertainment means, to very limited time (no no after dark at most places), to hanging-out (forget it!), electricity (its a luxury item again) - by and large - all reasons for huge uptake of via-medium of VAS through mobile phone!

What a change (telecom - VAS) simple thing (mobile) brings to life of so many people....

And if usage trends are any indications, it is helping far too many people and thus, VAS has taken a centre stage and suddenly looks like a Compelling Mass appeal portfolio..

Well, as they say, Life is Stranger than Fiction, any-day!

Regards

Saket

The Alchemist

I have read Paulo Coelho ‘The Alchemist’ numerous times over the years; and have recommend as a 'must read' to all— believers and non believers! As this book has this amazing quality to transforms the way you perceive life with its triumphs and failures alike…

The Alchemist presents a simple tale based on plain truths and places one can identify with. As Coelho says "simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".

The reader is pursued by ideas, signs and adventure like resonance from past life. Symbols are omnipresent in this masterpiece through these Paulo shows us how to accept our destiny and strongly recommends readers to follow their dreams, because to find our "Personal Myth" and our mission on earth is the way to discovering "God" which is symbolic of happiness and fulfillment.

The novel revolves around the tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. How he understands the meaning of the ‘the signs’ that he comes across on his journey and ventures in a realm to understand himself by exploration and self-discovery, while searching for the hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt. He journeys from Spain to Morocco in search of worldly achievement (money/love/fame etc.).

On his journey he gets to meet many spiritual signs in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. It is from this Englishman's book that Santiago learns about the alchemists—men who believed that if a metal was heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Later he meets a real alchemist and becomes his student resulting in clarifying many of his imprudent agendas while still staying allowing himself to be true to his dreams. It is his encounter with the alchemist that brings self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment.

Coelho also suggests that those who do not have the courage to follow their "Personal Myth" are doomed to a life of emptiness and misery. Fear of failure seems to be the greatest obstacle to happiness. He asks all to dream and to avoid living a life in void.

‘The Alchemist’, is a masterpiece that fills you with sanguinity; Coelho through the novel shows you how everything is possible; as long as you really want it with all your heart. So go ahead and find your dreams and make them come true…

Recommended read: Do check out Paulo Coelho blog for more golden nuggets at http://paulocoelhoblog.com/.