SanDisk Cuts Staff & Salaries
The world’s largest supplier of flash storage card products, SanDisk Corporation, has announced cost cutting measures.
“Industry-wide NAND component pricing has deteriorated by approximately 50 percent in the past two months due to excess supply of NAND components coupled with first quarter seasonally weak demand. This is impacting pricing for our retail and OEM products at a steeper rate than we had been anticipating and in order to maintain market share, we now expect to lower Q1 prices for many of our products to 30-40 percent below fourth quarter levels,” said Eli Harari, chairman and CEO of SanDisk. “Although we believe there will be strong pickup in demand for our products in the second half of the year, we do not have visibility as to when the current aggressive pricing cycle will run its full course, and gross margins are likely to remain under significant pressure for several quarters.”
The expense reduction actions include several employee-related measures including a worldwide reduction of SanDisk’s work force of up to 250 employees in March. SanDisk will reduce the salaries for all executives including a 20 percent cut in base pay for the CEO, 15 percent for the president and EVPs and 10 percent for other VPs. There will be a salary freeze for all other employees and a general hiring freeze, except for strategic positions.
Master’s Program for Software Management
As globalization, outsourcing, and world-flattening advances in technology continue to rock the discipline of software engineering, Carnegie Mellon West has decided to introduce a Master of Science (MS) program in Software Management. Offered as a part-time program, the unique, pragmatic, inter-disciplinary curriculum addresses these and other trends essential to preparing leaders for the challenges facing software organizations in the 21st century. Established in 2002 at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, Carnegie Mellon West is the west coast campus of Carnegie Mellon University.
“The rise of the global economy has shifted the emphasis of software engineering,” said James Morris, dean of Carnegie Mellon West. “Our students — and their employers — want a curriculum that more accurately and fully addresses the business issues of software. This technical, business, and organizational cross-training gives our students the perspective and contextual understanding they need to see and seize opportunities in the global market.”
The software management degree is for students pursuing careers as program managers, product managers, directors of software development and software executives. Over a six-semester (two-year) period, students in the software management program learn strategies for developing and delivering software products and services.
Developing future software leaders, the new Carnegie Mellon West program offers students a hands-on, team-oriented education. In its technical components, the program builds upon the rich heritage of Carnegie Mellon’s software engineering curriculum. In its business and organizational components, however, Carnegie Mellon West breaks with tradition by giving students the broader perspective needed to collaborate with and lead the global, distributed teams that are defining next-generation software organizations. Graduates enjoy accelerated career advancement and a master’s degree from one of the world’s top engineering schools.
A 2007 program brochure can be downloaded at http://media.west.cmu.edu/documents/Carnegie_Mellon_West_2007_ Brochure.pdf and more comprehensive information can be found at http://west.cmu.edu. Applications are currently being accepted, with June 1 the final deadline. Approximately 30 percent of students at Carnegie West live outside the university’s primary location in the San Francisco Bay Area, and local students often participate remotely given their busy work and travel schedules.
Indian Media Market to Reach $17bn by 2012
The Indian media market should reach revenues of $17 billion by 2012, according to the third edition of Heernet Ventures’ Indian Media Market report (www.heernet.com). The study forecasts market growth from an estimated 415.4 billion rupees in 2007 to 766 billion rupees in 2012 (CAGR of 13 percent).
The last 12 months have been a period of exceptional growth for Indian media. All sectors (except music and marketing services) have achieved double digit growth. A large number of new services have been launched across television (Tata Sky), commercial radio (second phase of FM licensing) and publishing (Mint newspaper). In addition to increased corporate investment, leading private equity groups such as Blackstone and Sequioa Capital have completed their first major investments in the Eenadu group and Shaadi.com respectively.
The medium term outlook remains excellent with double digit GDP growth and increasing advertising spend in sectors such as the automotive industry, telecoms, retail and financial services. In the longer term, the sector fundamentals are also positive — the sector will benefit from growing private consumption, urbanization and higher literacy. The study forecasts that sectors likely to experience the strongest growth are Pay TV, online media and radio. In the Pay TV market, the arrival of conditional access technology in cable television and the emergence of DTH will ensure that channel and platform operators can collect subscription revenues accurately for the first time (CAGR 2007-2012 of 16.8 percent). In online media, Internet reach will increase rapidly from its current level of four percent of the population. This should drive revenue growth at CAGR of 29.2 percent through to 2012.