In Search of the Perfect Project Management Tool

– By Dmitry Stillermann, DataArt

Dmitry Stillerman, DataArt's Vice President of Enterpirse Project Management, contributed a by-lined article to PMI Virtual Library."In Search of the Perfect Project Management Tool" explores the current state of affairs in project management tools, where "every available solution is either lacking some rather critical features, or is cumbersome to use, or both," making it easy for "any newcomer that addresses all of the shortcomings of the existing products to easily grab a huge market share from the competitors."

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Can WinMo 7 Give Microsoft New Mobile Moxie?

By Erika Morphy | TechNewsWorld

TechNewsWorld discusses what Microsoft has to achieve to stay on top of the mobile software game and offers opinions of several industry experts, including Denis Margolin, Vice President of Mobile Technologies at DataArt.

"With buzz building, the pressure is even greater for Microsoft -- which has already been under enormous pressure from advances made by the iPhone and Android.

In particular, Apple' formidable array of mobile apps -- followed by a sizable number of apps for the Android platform -- is proving to be a serious competitive factor.

The emergence of centralized, heavily promoted application storefronts like Apple's App Store can be credited at least in part with moving smartphones into the mainstream. Many people have had phones with smartphone capabilities for years -- like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Series 60 phones popular in Europe, for example -- they just never used them as smartphones because it was not convenient, said Denis Margolin, DataArt's mobile practice leader.
"Technology advances, including the apps, have made it possible to create products and mobile services that people other than IT professionals could benefit from -- such as navigation, messaging, geographical search, Internet access and others, without having a steep learning curve or paying heavily for the data transfer," he told TechNewsWorld. "

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Software Developers Gladly Hop on the Cloud Bandwagon

By Paul Krill | InfoWorld

Paul Krill of InfoWorld writes that while debate on mass acceptance of cloud computing rages on, "for software developers, it has become clear that cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Windows Azure are expanding options for their application deployments."

The article cites DataArt's involvement in the cloud computing space:
"At DataArt, a software development outsourcing venture, the company is readying cloud development efforts with some internal development. But DataArt has not yet developed any cloud applications for customers. One of the company's clients wants a cloud-based medical records system. "They're going to build it from the ground up and they want Azure to be their platform for developing," says Roman Chernyshev, DataArt's vice president of engineering. DataArt's client hopes to start out on Azure, then move their application in-house, since it might be cheaper to run its own datacenter once it has thousands of customers, Chernyshev says.

Moving to the cloud means just minor differences for developers
There are some differences in developing cloud applications, such as the need to debug on a staging environment, says Chernyshev. "It's a little bit different, but I can't say that it's more difficult or less difficult. It's just another way of building applications," he says."

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Mobile Apps Make GIS Pocket-Sized

By: Andrew G. Roe

Cadalyst magazine, the leading publication about computer-aided design and related technologies, writes about intensifying battles between rival smartphone providers and the burgeoning market of mobile phone applications. DataArt is featured among innovative mobile application developers for its work on navmii, a new mobile consumer application with location-based services.

"Geographic information systems professionals can benefit from consumer-oriented tools. Navmii, a navigation application from London-based GeoLife that was previously developed for Windows Mobile devices, was recently released for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app uses GPS to provide smart routing, interactive maps, and spoken directions for turn-by-turn navigation. While similar applications were previously available for the iPhone, GeoLife claims Navmii is the first to bring GPS navigation to the iPod touch. Navmii is currently available for the United Kingdom, and will be available for the United States later this winter.

GeoLife's software partner, New York City–based DataArt, helped develop the technology that combined GeoLife's Navmii engine with PosiMotion's G-Fi mobile network and GPS router. The solution uses GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular telephone technology to establish positioning in a wider range of situations, said Dmitry Bagrov, DataArt's senior vice-president. "At any given moment, you can request the position of your phone," he said, noting that the combination of technologies enables users to dependably find that position even within buildings, unlike conventional GPS."

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DancingDinosaur

A leading blog on mainframe computing in the 21st century, DancingDinosaur, ponders whether system z jobs are really available, quoting Alexei Miller, Executive Vice President at DataArt.

“Some large firms have reopened their college hiring” reports Alexei Miller, EVP at DataArt, a software outsourcing firm. “They’re actually talking about shortages of human capital.”

"It is ironic that the big financial firms, for example, slashed IT staffing and, now that the markets appear to be rebounding somewhat, suddenly have projects they need to complete fast. And when they try to call those people back, Miller reports, many already have been picked up by others and aren’t available."

"These projects, he notes, typically involve complex, non-standard work and massive data sets. The routine mainframe project work has long been shipped to India and elsewhere offsite. (DataArt also ships work offshore.) Rather, these are the kinds of projects that deal with pricing, risk, and compliance."

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