BRIEFING - ASIA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - JULY 29, 2011.

An executive briefing on information technology for July 29, 2011, prepared by Asia Pulse (http://www.asiapulse.com), the real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, commercial intelligence and business opportunities.

CHINESE SOFTWARE FIRMS' REVENUES IN H1 2011 SURGED 29.3%

BEIJING - Business revenues of China's software industry surged 29.3 per cent year on year to 806.5 billion yuan (US$125.17 billion) in the first half of 2011 and the growth is 0.2 percentage points higher than that for the same period of 2010, according to a report released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently.

The MIIT report shows that the software industry raked in profits of 10.3 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, a surge of 34.9 per cent from a year earlier.

SAMSUNG ELEC'S Q2 EARNINGS FALL 18% BUT STILL BEAT FORECASTS

SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co. (KSE:005930), the world's top memory chipmaker, reported Friday a second-quarter earnings that beat market expectations as strong smartphone sales offset feeble demand for TVs and display panel losses.

But the company warned of the tough quarters ahead as consumers may remain reluctant to spend on TVs and PCs while Samsung's smartphone and tablet PC businesses will face increased competition from rivals.

INDIA'S HCL TECHNOLOGIES REFUTES DELETING NEWS INT'L DATA

NEW DELHI - Indian IT major HCL Technologies (BSE:532281) on Wednesday denied it deleted the data of client News International, which is deeply mired in UK's phone hacking scandal.

"On the question of whether we deleted any data, the answer is since we do not have any data, the question doesn't arise," HCL Technologies vice chairman and chief executive officer Vineet Nayar told reporters here.

S.KOREA'S SK COMMUNICATIONS SAYS 35 MLN USERS' INFO HACKED

SEOUL - SK Communications Co. (KOSDAQ:066270), the operator of South Korea's third most-visited Internet portal, said Thursday that its popular Web sites were hacked, compromising the private information of 35 million users.

The incident could be the worst online security breach in South Korea since a cyber attack on the Web site of Internet Auction Co., a local unit of eBay Inc., affected 18 million users in 2008.

VIETNAM, S.KOREA LOOKING TO BOOST TRADE EXCHANGES, TECH TRANSFER

HANOI - A seminar designed to boost trade exchanges and technology transfer between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) took place in Ho Chi Minh City on July 27.

The event was jointly organised by the RoK Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Administration (SMBA) and the Ho Chi Minh City Science and Technology Centre (STC) under the municipal Department of Science and Technology.

INDIA'S HCL TECHNOLOGIES TO HIRE 3,000 PEOPLE IN SEPT QTR

NEW DELHI - Indian software exporter HCL Technologies (HCLT, BSE:532281) has said it will hire about 3,000 people in the July-September quarter.

"We have already hired 3,000 people in the June quarter. In this quarter, we will hire an additional 3,000 freshers," HCLT Chief Executive Vineet Nayar told reporters here.

INDIA'S HEXAWARE TECH POSTS FOUR-FOLD RISE IN Q2 NET PROFIT

MUMBAI - Indian IT consulting and software services provider Hexaware Technologies (BSE:532129) has posted a four-fold jump in second quarter net profit to Rs 60 crore (US$13.49 million) for the period ended June 30, 2011.

As per Indian accounting standards, the company had a net profit of Rs 14.4 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, Hexaware Technologies said in filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

INDIA'S HCL TECHNOLOGIES POSTS 62.13% RISE IN Q4 NET PROFIT

NEW DELHI - Indian IT services giant HCL Technologies (BSE:532281) has posted a 62.13 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 385.59 crore (US$86.72 million) for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2011.

This is against a standalone net profit of Rs 237.82 crore in the same quarter last year as per Indian accounting standards, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

APPLE LAUNCHES APP STORE IN UZBEKISTAN, 32 OTHER COUNTRIES

TASHKENT - Apple has officially launched its App Store in Uzbekistan and other 32 countries.

The applications of the App Store are sorted into such categories as games, news, sports, health, education, music, photography, travel, weather, etc.

HP, TAKENAKA TO TIE UP IN CONTAINER-TYPE DATA CENTERS

TOKYO - U.S. information technology firm Hewlett-Packard Co. will join hands with Takenaka Corp. in the container-type data center business, targeting manufacturers wanting to utilize their own cloud-computing systems.

Takenaka will handle design and construction of container-type data centers by making the most of its experience in building normal data centers. By working on the centers' internal designs while laying the necessary groundwork, such as quake-proofing, the builder can set up a container-type data center on a vacant space next to an office or factory in as little as six months.

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