Tuesday, November 3, 2009

8 common technology capabilities that IT organization needs

The technology capabilities that IT organization needs might form a very wide and deep list, varying based on the business strategies in place.

Richard Brennan, managing director of Denver-based technology strategy and advisory firm Tipperary Partners, has come out with a list of 8 common technology capabilities for our reference.

  1. Operational: Expert in operating systems, networks, data centers; scaling them efficiently while appropriately managing risks.
  2. Development: Expert in leveraging the appropriate technology to code and deploy complex systems.
  3. Innovative: Expert at introducing technologies and processes.
  4. Project management: Expert at managing and delivering complex projects within budget and timeframe.
  5. Architectural: Expert in designing reliable, scalable and extensible applications and systems.
  6. Data management: Expert at collecting, managing, organizing and providing access to data.
  7. Process: Expert in establishing and managing operational and business processes.
  8. Agile: Expert in reacting quickly to the changing technical/business environment.
This list is good enough for organizations to use as reference to determine and define technology capabilities of their own need. It is also a good evaluation/assessment list for both employers and employees.

Bear in mind that we might not be able to master in all of them. It is better to pick at most three to four items in the list and excel in them.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Are you willing to buy Maxis IPO for RM5.20 at PE 17?

Maxis, after privatized and delisted for some times, is coming back to KLSE again with a new IPO.

According to the latest news, they will not be issuing new shares, but will offer 2.25 billion shares, representing 30% of its existing share capital. The estimated IPO price is RM5.20 per share.

With this information, let's do some calculation.

The total shares of Maxis is 2.25 billion / 30% = 7.5 billion.

For your information, Maxis made a revenue of RM8.45 billion and net profit of RM2.4 billion in 2008. For the 1st half year of 2009, revenue is RM4.24 billion and net profit is RM1.14 billion.

Let's estimate the EPS of Maxis now.

I'll estimate the net profit with the following simple guessing formula:

Multiply the half year net profit of 2009 by 2 to get a full year figure.

1.14 x 2 = 2.28

With this, the EPS will be 2.28/7.5 = 0.304

If the IPO price is 5.20, then the PE will be 5.2/0.304 = 17.11

Maxis stated that they plan to give back 75% of net profit as dividend. So the dividend will be around 0.304 x 75% = 0.228.

And the estimated DY will then be 0.228/5.20 = 4.38%

So, are you willing to buy Maxis IPO at the PE of around 17?

I think they come out with the proposed IPO price by referencing to Digi (6947), which currently has a PE of around 15.

Currently, even Digi doesn't seem attractive to me, so why should I buy Maxis at a higher PE and lower DY? This IPO is not attractive to me from the fundamental perspective.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

Software update to v2.80 available for Sing/Mal version of Garmin Nuvi 205/205w/255w

The new software version 2.80 is now available for Sing/Mal version of Garmin Nuvi 205/205w/255w.

This version will:

  • Synchronize to English v5.30
  • Update GPS firmware to v3.90
Here are the steps I have taken to successfully updated my Nuvi 255w.

Download the installation file from Garmin's website (link provided at the end of this article). The filename is nuvi255W_SG_v280.exe with the size of 10,672kb.

Remove the SD card (that I use to store additional maps) from the GPS slot.

Connect the GPS to my computer with USB cable and access to its storage.

Rename the file /Garmin/GPX/Current.gpx to /Garmin/GPX/temp.gpx. During the update process, a new Current.gpx file will be created and data in this temp.gpx will be restored to the new Current.gpx. If this step is not taken, you might lost your saved waypoints and/or favourites.

Delete these 3 files from /Garmin/Voice folder:
  • English_American_Jack.vpm
  • English_Australian_Karen.vpm
  • English_British_Daniel.vpm
Don't worry, they'll be replaced with new version of voice files during the update process.

Run the nuvi255W_SG_v280.exe from the computer. It will copy over some files to the GPS.



Safely unplug the USB cable and let the GPS reboot by itself. You will see the message of "Software loading..." on the screen of the GPS while it is performing the update.

In less than a minute, the GPS will automatically reboot itself after the update is completed.

Now the GPS is loaded with new software v2.80 (successfully updated from the previous v2.70).



Quite disappointedly, there is still no ecoRoute feature in this v2.80 of Nuvi software for Sing/Mal 205/205w/255w units.

Click here to download the installation file for Garmin Nuvi 205/205w/255w Sing/Mal v2.80 software.

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.