Intercom Online delights in technology. We have thus been using several useful packages for our projects. Magento is one such software that has several features that are one step ahead of the osCommerce package.

Magento is basically an e-commerce platform built on open-source technology that is rich in features and allows the online entrepreneurs or businessmen with exceptional flexibility and control over the look, content and functionality of their e-commerce store. The admin or the merchant is able to create sites that are customized to his specific business needs. Magento is extremely scalable and makes it possible to manage multiple stores from one administration panel, including the ability to manage localized/international versions of sites. Magento auto-generates search-engine friendly URLs, sitemaps for search engine submission as well as for display on site, and a popular search terms page. If a site is built on Magento platform, the admin gets a visibility into the store performance so he can make changes or take action as per the needs of the his customers. That is what makes it so competent in the e-commerce world.

Then there is Drupal, a CMS that allows you to create multiple sites through single installation. Drupal allows nth level of content categorization. User permission, SEO friendly URLs, several video and podcasting modules are available apart from Internationalization. The architecture of Drupal is good which makes it more scalable and secure. It permits strong community support, provides API to integrate with other packages. This gives Drupal the cutting edge over other CMS packages.

iPhone applications development has been the talk of IO lately. iPhone has excited our developers and thrown an interesting challenge to them. iPhone has some tools and categories that make it possible for the developers to design applications. IO team currently has been enjoying the task of developing a fitness tool, which is a Windows-based application that would enable the user to keep a track of his fitness regime on his iPhone. It is basically an add-on facility of a fitness site that has been designed by IO in the past. The fitness tool facility is exclusive to the site members who can download it through the site.

Thankfully at Intercom, New Year Resolutions get followed throughout the year. At least that is what the latest results of 'On Time Employees' show. We are proud to declare that there were no latecomers and no absentees during March this year. What a way to start the new financial year!

Intercom has finally been able to implement the practice of checking on the health aspect of its employees. We have started updating our notice board with desktop exercises. Every week, the employees get to know desktop exercises and it is ensured that they follow them religiously. So far it has been taken zealously by one and all.

IO team heartily welcomes Rahul Lahore. All the best!

Three birthdays during the last ten days of the month came as the much-needed respite from hectic work this month. First it was Ashish Gavshinde who was surprised by the team members in the evening of April 17 with a birthday bash. Cakes, soft drinks and pastries coupled with good wishes from the team left sweet memories for Ashish. Taranjeet’s birthday (April 23), on the other hand, had another addition to the celebration i.e birthday caps. All the team members including seniors wore colourful caps adorned with ‘Happy Birthday’. But what warmed our birthday boy’s heart the most was a group song sung by his team members. The IO family then made him to dance too.

A similar funfair was seen during Praveen Sharma’s birthday that fell on April 28. IO family extends warmest greetings to all the birthday boys.

It's been more than a year at IO. I have learned so many things. Every new day brings a new experience for me. The work environment and guidance of seniors have brought in more professioYour browser may not support display of this image. nalism in me. I am very happy to be part of intercom & I can proudly say I am a member of this lovely family" - Pooja Khatwa

Hi friends, I am a software developer & I have begun my career with this company. This is the best experience of my life. The environment of this company is really very friendly. Of course we do a lot of hard work here but that is full of fun too. This company gives me opportunity to prove myself. I believe that we all live up to the slogan of company that is "where work is passion" and I would like to add to it- "where work is passion and passion is our enjoyment tool" - Ritesh Kumar

Noted scientist and Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is a leader to look upto. This month lets enlighten ourselves with some of his goals in life:

• 1. I realize that small aim is a crime. I will have a goal and work hard to achieve that goal.
• 2. I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity.
• 3. I will be a good citizen, a good member of my family, a good member of the society, a good member of the nation and a good member of the world.
• 4. I will always try to save or better someone's life. Wherever I am, a thought will always come to my mind. That is, what can I give?
• 5. I will always protect and enhance the dignity of every human life.
• 6. I will always remember: Let not my winged days, be spent in vain.
• 7. I will always work for Clean Green Energy and Clean planet Earth.
• 8. As a youth, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.

Using electricity wisely can be both fun and learning. This month lets ponder over how this initiative makes sense in a world where life is unthinkable without electricity. Lets begin with some humour. Some statements on power saving:

"If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight."- George Gobel

"It doesn't make a difference what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature." - Steven Wright

Jokes apart. What we are doing at Intercom Online is something that is truly contributing to the entire environment. Using electricity wisely doesn't just save money, it also saves the environment. This is news to a lot of people. After all, when we plug something into the wall, it seems clean enough - we don't see or smell any pollution, like we do with our car. But the pollution is there. It just happens at the power plant.

Most electricity is generated by burning coal and other fossil fuels. Every time we turn on the lights, we create a little pollution. In fact, the average home pollutes more than the average car! Imagine the amount of pollution offices are causing. So using electricity wisely doesn't just put money in our pocket, it helps keep the air and water clean, too. A few tips would be handy:

Computer power management: A typical computer monitor uses 60 to 120 watts of electrical power, depending upon screen size. Do not use screensavers as energy savers as they continue to use the monitor at full power and do not conserve energy.

Configure your monitor to turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity, your hard drive to turn off after 30 minutes of inactivity, and your desktop computer or laptop to go into a standby or sleep mode after 90 minutes of inactivity. (If your computer does not have a standby or sleep mode, or you can’t find it, simply turn off your monitor when it is not in use)

Shut down your computer, monitor, and personal printer or place them in a standby mode when you leave the office for more than two hours.

Myth about turning off Lights: A common myth about lighting systems is that it is more expensive to turn lights on and off, so it’s better to just leave lights on all the time. Not true!

Dress Power Smartly: Most people wonder how dressing smartly can be beneficial in saving electricity. Here’s how. You must have noticed many a times that if in an April afternoon you are wearing a dark-colour and heavy shirt, you will want to decrease the AC temperature in your cabin. Why? Because you feel hotter than usual. Long sleeve, dark colours, silk, satin, synthetic, corduroys etc are fashion Foux Paus in summers. Thus, wear cottons, linens, light colours throughout summer and you will not feel so hot, thus saving electricity.

That is simple yet effective. Isn’t it?

The India Soft 2010 Meet turned out to be an event that brought not only some very tangible results but also a lot of learning. While the ALW made a great impression upon European and American delegates, the Indian participants also shared their process and strategies with the team, and recognized the focus of ALW in open source technologies. Moreover, our team brought back lessons of balancing professional and personal life and of working smarter. Our team now awaits agreement signing and client visits. To top it all, ALW could establish a brand for open source technologies. Hearty wishes to the entire team.

Dear friends and partners,

Greetings of the season. Even as the weather gets hotter by day, the activities at Intercom Online are steadily heating up. Thus, it is no news to you that my desk is as usual filled up with work.

Before I begin, I need to convey a word of encouragement to a few of our teammates. First of all, I wish to congratulate the entire Mixels team. Good job guys and keep that up. Second, kudos to Ashish Gavshinde for a phenomenal quality of work put in this month.

The team for the iPhone application development has started its work. Currently we are working on a Fitness tool on iPhone that would enable the users to track their work-out plans and schedules of exercising. Isn’t that exciting? We are already doing a lot on Content Management Systems (CMS) and now are working on Drupal and in fact would be heading to a higher level soon. In addition, we have started working on cloud computing as well.

So that leaves us with more work of course but as long as we all share the same passion, it is going to be fun. In the meantime, do take good care of yourselves and save yourself from the weather hazards.

God Bless

Sincerely,

Nidhi Mongia, COO