morihe.icu

Introduction
From the company’s humble beginning as the telegraph-bauanstalt von Siemens and Halske in the year 1847, the company has managed to grow into the second biggest employer in Germany, having more than 427,000 employees worldwide by 2009. The company’s 150 years history is characterized by the ingenious inventions as well as the trend-setting developments. With time, the company diversified their business to include a wide assortment of electrical engineering applications. The company’s earliest specialty was on the heavy current engineering which encompassed finding the means to satisfy the growing power requirements of the contemporary industrial machinery. Through their extensive expertise in electrical engineering, the company expanded its operations to encompass the generation of electric power. Although most of the company’s initial power plants relied on coal for their operations, the company was additionally undertaking major investments in R&D on the alternative sources of energy. The company continued with the diversification of its operations even further from the mid 19810s where it expanded to wind energy. Alternative energy generation technologies continue to be the major priority at Siemens, with their emphasis being on solar as well as wind applications.

The company’s energy sector encompasses five divisions which include renewable energy, fossil fuel generation, oil & gas, power transmission as well as power distribution.

What Problems are they facing In the Case?
The current situation that Siemens is facing relates to the formulation of a strategy to guide in the best position that the company will adopt in their effort to dominate the global renewable energy market. The main hurdles revolve around the fact that the stakes are high as a result of the recent financial turmoil as well as the credit crunch that are making it harder for them to reach fast decisions. The decisions that the company needs to make include whether the company should make its best guess about the future by investing deeply in a limited number of options. Additionally, it is imperative that they decide on whether they should cast their net wider and thus hedge their bets on the diverse types of alternative energy. Siemens needs to decide on whether they should focus on a narrower field and what strategy are they going to adopt in deciding on the type of alternative energy that is going to be their leading technology in the future. It is imperative that they decide on whether it is possible for them to foresee any new disruptive innovations and additionally take advantage of them.

Additionally, they need to decide on whether they can pick any alternative technology and additionally ensure that they make it a winner. The last challenge that Siemens were facing is on deciding the manner they are going to compete in the new fields. The decisions revolve on deciding whether the company shall be going alone, develop proprietary knowledge and consequently keeping the probable profits to themselves, with full knowledge that they run the risk of going too far on the wrong path. Conversely, they need to decide on whether they should base their focus on the acquiring of smaller companies that have developed promising technological advancements, aiding them down the development path. Additionally, it is necessary for Siemens to decide on whether making alliances will make it possible for them to share both the returns as well as the risks with a partner thus becoming their optional solution to the domination of the global alternative energy industry.

Alternative Energy Opportunities Siemens Pursues
There are various types of alternative energy opportunities that Siemens can pursue to realize their global success in the alternative energy sector. The logic behind the clamor for the alternative energies is the use of the natural based resources such as water, the wind, solar radiation or the heat for the creation of energy other than the reliance on the carbon-based fuels.

1. Wind energy is one of the options that Siemens could venture into as a form of alternative source of energy

The common assertion about the wind energy topic is that although it is some disadvantages, it is one of the fasted growing alternate energy sectors and is additionally a trend that should continue. The company has consequently staked a firm presence in the wind energy turbine business, having won some large contracts for the installation of both of as well as onshore wind turbines. On the global arena, the company is the fifth largest installer of wind turbine power by the year 2009, aiming to the second by the year 2012. The portfolio of the company encompasses the diverse stages of wind-turbine development inclusive of the deigning of the components as well as the system, manufacturing, R&D, installation as well as maintenance. These activities have managed to earn the company approximately 19 billion Euros in revenues in the 2008 fiscal year, which accounted for approximately a quarter of the company’s overall revenues. The fact that Siemens has the foundation that is necessary for the development of these alternative energies presents an excellent platform for them to undertake the investment in the wind power energy opportunity.

The additional reason as to why Siemens should venture into the wind power sector is the fact that they have few competitors as a result of the technological complexities of the business. The fact that the market offers a high future potential about the industry growth implies that other competitors are going to enter into the competition mainly from China. However the fact that wind power requires constant maintenance implies that the Siemens will have long-term service contracts, an attribute that makes it instrumental for them to enter into the wind power sector.

Solar energy is the other opportunity that Siemens needs to adopt, considering that the company is already the market leader in the turnkey CSP plants. In this case, Siemens would be able to leverage its plant size, their experience in the development of power plants, as well as the reliability, being a long term service provider effectively. The main reason that the company should target as they undertake this opportunity is the long term servicing required for the generators and turbines long after the completion of the plant’s construction.
Hydropower is the additional opportunity that Siemens needs to capture. The fact that the company has been a strong player in the hydrometric power dams implies that they have the experience that can set them apart from their competition. There numerous opportunities for the company to expand into such as in the US where the company government has designed policies to increase their low costs hydroelectric power production. The US offers excellent expansion opportunities as there are more than 5,677 sites that have an undeveloped capacity of approximately 30,000MW, which offer an opportunity for Siemens to introduce their expertise.
Geothermal power is the additional opportunity that Siemens can exploit because the company has an expansive wealth of expertise on electric energy. In the production of this energy, two shafts are drilled deep into the earth core, with water being pumped in through one shaft and extracting energy through the other shaft inform of steam. The main attribute that makes the technology an excellent option for Siemens is the fact that it can be installed in any area that requires energy. Additionally, geothermal plants need minimal amounts of fresh water as well as external fuel sources and their layouts makes them highly scalable.
How Aggressively Should Siemens Pursue These Opportunities?
Siemens should need to pursue these opportunities with aggressiveness. For instance on the wind power opportunity, they should attack the Europe market with utmost aggressiveness considering that they are among the best in the region as well as the fact that are minimal transportation costs. About the expansion to other regions in the world, they should be the first movers of the technologies as they already possess the technology as well as the R&D attributes. Waiting to introduce their technologies will only serve to diminish the market for their alternative energy. The advantage that makes it imperative for Siemens to be first movers of these alternative energy technology opportunities is they already have a reputation for being the best in the world as well as the fact that they have exceptional R&D strategies in the same sector.

Should They Go It Alone, Form Strategic Alliances Or Pursue Acquisitions?

On whether Siemens needs to undertake these opportunities either alone, form alliances or acquisitions, various factors are taken into consideration. In the case of wind energy, Siemens possess the best technology, but the costs of transporting these turbines are very high, a factor that limits their expansions. The fact that there are few established competitors in the industry for Siemens to acquire or engage in alliances implies that their best option is to set up industries in their desired markets.

Regarding solar energy, the fact that the company has the best turnkey CSP plants in the world makes acquiring the existing companies in their desired markets the best option as they will not have to share their profits. Siemens has minimal technologies in the hydropower generation and thus pursuing alliances with the established players in their desired markets is a worthwhile plan where they will be supplying technologies and expertise. Geothermal powers involve minimal costs and through their technology as their main bargaining, Siemens should enter their desired markets alone.

Conclusion
Siemens is facing a critical point in their survival in the alliterative energy production sector. The company possesses some of the best technologies in the world relating to the production alternative energy, and the contemporary market challenges are making it imperative for them to make decisions that will see them enter excel in the sector. Some of the decisions that the company has to make revolve around the number as well as the type of alternative energies they will be pursuing. From the assessment of the case, it is clear that wind power, solar energy, geothermal power as well as hydropower present the company with the best opportunities to succeed in the alternative energy markets.

Global engineering R&D services outsourcing market is anticipated to reach more than USD 650 billion by 2025 according to a new report published by Polaris Market Research. The major factors which are driving this market is the access to low cost highly skilled resources which can work towards complex tasks of not only designing and testing but also on validation, simulation and execution. Companies are moving from business process outsourcing to knowledge process outsourcing and major industry verticals such as automotive, consumer electronics, semiconductors, aerospace and telecom are providing huge opportunities to the consulting companies.

Download PDF Sample: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/engineering-r&d-services-outsourcing-market/request-for-free-sample

The traction of offshore outsourcing can be seen owing to the low cost and added capabilities from the service providers. There are dedicated ER&D service providers which are not only providing basic services but also, they are jointly investing with the companies to expand their businesses in growing markets and geographies. Companies are also focusing on expanding their market reach along with faster turnaround times from these providers. These are some of the major advantages for the companies to outsource their services.

The market for ER&D services has evolved from outsourcing of simple low-cost engineering services to capacity augmentation. At present companies are focusing more on reduced timelines, increased productivity and quality of outsourcing services. Countries such as India, China are among the biggest markets for ER&D service providers. Growing number of engineering professionals every year coupled with low cost of service have pushed the market for ER&D Outsourcing in this region.

Companies in North America and Europe are considered to spend more on these services however, Asia Pacific is the largest market for the ER&D service providers. Countries such as India and China have pushed the market for ER&D and are estimated to continue the trend over the forecast period. Applications in the automotive, telecom, consumer electronics and aerospace segments is considered to have large market share in 2017. There has been an increase in adoption in the offshore services as compared to onsite service due to low costs and highly skilled professionals on the offshore locations. The offshore outsourcing type would grow at a higher rate during the forecast period as compared to its counterpart.

For More Information and TOC: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/engineering-r&d-services-outsourcing-market/inquire-before-buying

The major restrains this market is facing is the intellectual property theft specifically during the offshore outsourcing. This is the major problem faced by many companies, which eventually generates a loss for these companies. However due to strict laws and changing regulations, this challenge is expected to overcome during the forecast period. Major players which are profiled in the study include HCL Technologies Limited, IAV GmbH, P+Z Engineering GmbH, Tata Consulting Services Limited, Wipro Limited, EDAG Engineering GmbH, ASAP Holdings GmbH, FEV Group, Cybage software, Kistler Instruments AG, Infosys Ltd, among others.

About Polaris Market Research & Consulting

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities.

Linux
Linux is an operating system that can get operated through Graphic User Interface (GUI). It is a complete reimplementation of the POSIX interface that got initiated by Linus Torvalds (Jaeger, 2008). POSIX refers to the portable operating system interface. It describes an application program for programmers to know the functions, data structures, and variables to utilize to implement the code they are making for the operating system. In the recent past Linux operating system has gained massive popularity, thus necessitating its promotion as a viable alternative to Windows and especially for server systems such as web servers. Fox (2014) states that a survey of the top one million web servers conducted in 2001 indicated that approximately two-thirds ran on Unix/Linux whereas slightly above the third ran on Microsoft Windows. Linux operating system continuously gains acceptance hence various measures have got adopted to address the security challenges of traditional UNIX systems.

Linux got developed initially for Intel 80386 processor-based IBM-compatible personal computers. It has since developed and gets used on other platforms based on various processor architectures that include Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Motorola 680*0, Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC, Intel Itanium, and ARM. A variety of multiprocessor-based platforms also ports Linux. The Linux operating system comprises of two parts namely the kernel and several utilities and libraries (Haldar, 2015). The kernel is the core of the system management, although other parts execute different tasks unique to the operating system. The Linux kernel comprises of various essential parts such as process management, hardware device drivers, file system drivers, memory management, and network management (JAMES, 2011). The process management function sends the processes to the processor to create multiple processors. The memory management function allocates memory to process and frees the memory after been used by the process. The file system function is the base of Linux (Jadhav, 2014). Other types of kernel features available to user processes include system calls that undertake specific tasks that a user process would not implement efficiently on its own (Ward, 2014).

Advantages of Linux Operating System
First, Linux operating system gets used by majority servers that run on the internet. It gets attributed to the fact that the usage of Unix/Linux does not get restricted to web servers as the platform is famous for mail servers, file servers, database servers as well as domain name system servers. Second is that Macintosh operating system (Mac OS X) runs on top of a UNIX operating system that gets based on the Mach Unix Kernel. Most portable computing devices run a version of Linux such as Google Android, and also hardware devices such as firewalls, routers, and Wi-Fi access points run on Linux or UNIX (Fox, 2014).

Linux operating system has free open source meaning the source code in the software is available for programmers to add to, improve or modify the code and make the new code available. Enhancements are essential in that they assist in protecting the software so that it has fewer security loopholes. Additions, on the other hand, provide new features to the software. Alterations to the software allow users to select the version they prefer to use. The software is also freely available.

Linux operating system allows for greater control. Although Windows allow a DOS shell for the user to enter commands, there is the restriction of the DOS commands in the scope. However, in Unix or Linux the power comes from the command line, thus, a user can specify different options for the commands entered through the command line, therefore, controlling the operating system with greater precision (Shotts Jr, 2012).

Linux operating system is appropriate for individuals who want to learn more about operating systems. Unlike Windows, Linux operating system exposes an individual to details of what takes place. The Command Line Interface (CLI) in Unix or Linux forces an individual to learn because it is the only way of knowing how to use the command line. The operating system also assists a learner to understand with a variety of support available such as man pages.

Many users prefer using Linux due to various reasons that include using Linux to set up internet firewalls as it allows users to set up internet or intranet services. Linux also gets preferred by internet service providers because it does not require a steep licensing fee to install and is compatible with most cheap devices. The software is free and gets distributed according to GNU General Public Licence developed by Richard Stallman (McKinnon & McKinnon, 2004).

Linux Administrators
Linux operating system runs most of the world’s top supercomputers that any other operating system. According to Adelstein & Lubanovic (2007), an astonishing 75 percent of all the top 500 supercomputers in the world run on Linux. This high use of Linux operating systems consequently results in an extraordinarily high demand for Linux administrators. Due to the nature of Linux operating system as a modern and multiuser operating system, it needs a degree of administration more than other less involving and home-market systems.

Responsibilities of a Linux administrator
i. Oversees the physical database design, administration, and documentation

ii. Administer and manage large Linux server environment while focusing more on the performance, monitoring, tuning, and management.

iii. Training and mentoring junior-level administrators as well as giving the direction of technology solutions for the business.

iv. Install, configure, and troubleshoot all the hardware, software, and equipment needed to attain integrated system objectives; offer support services on escalated issues (Carling, Degler, & Dennis, 2000).

v. Provide daily technical support and consulting services for the hardware and operating system environment supporting the collection platform

vi. Creating and maintain user accounts in an organization (Collings, & Wall, 2005).

vii. Give effective first or second-level support for a company’s Linux environment on over 300-plus servers such as Linux blades.

viii. Undertake the management of all factors of the integrity of the environment like the security, monitoring, software management and change control.

ix. Administer infrastructure services – NIS, LDAP, DNS, FTP, SMTP, Postfix/Sendmail, Samba, NFS, – and application as well as database servers particularly focusing on automation and monitoring.

x. To squeeze the best performance from equipment, monitoring the system and utilizing Linux’s built-in configurability wisely.

xi. Interface with other internal support departments like the Database Administrators, Web Services, Storage, Security, Operations, Engineering, Application Development, Change Control and Command Centers.

xii. Provide network troubleshooting services, escalated service desk support as well as monitoring the mission-crucial systems (Adelstein & Lubanovic, 2007)

Linux system administrators have to be highly skilled and competent so as to minimize frequent mistakes and errors by the administrator. Carling, et. al 2000, states that the most common cause of a Linux or Unix system downtime is administrator error. For instance, when an administrator types rm –fr* from the wrong directory. They should also be available since they are always sought to make vital decisions and recommendations. Linux administrators should also continuously improve their proficiency in operating Linux systems through training, seminars, and conferences.

Proposal

The researcher’s job as a Linux administrator in the organization will aim at enhancing the needs assessment process. The job will entail a systematic process of identifying all the loopholes and weaknesses in the Linux system, identifying all the contributing factors and finally creating suitable solutions to address the problems. The improvements and modifications in the Linux system will help the company improve its performance as well as have better cyber security measures. These enhancements in the enterprise will get integrated through the iteration process. Each of the iterations in the enhancement process shall undergo a series of verification testing as well as evaluation of four phases namely, the planning phase, the action phase, the observation phase and the reflection phase.

Iteration 1: Orientation
This iteration will involve brainstorming session with representation from each of the three divisions in the organization. A discussion will occur regarding how to improve the communication flow in the organization. A team will get set to identify the requirements necessary for improving the Linux system in the organization. The objectives of the needs assessment process will get set by the team lead by the Linux administrator. The researcher will gather requirements needed for the enhancement.

Iteration 2: Training

The plan in this iteration is follow up on the brainstorming session with each (one on one) of the three Linux admin experts. This session will discuss the outcome of the brainstorming session and a more detailed discussion of their division’s requirements. The researcher will get trained on the operation of the current system as well as familiarize with the specific roles performed by the system in each of the departments in the organization. The specifications of the hardware and software requirements of the Linux system will get identified in this session.

Iteration 3: Systems Analysis
This step will involve the follow-up meeting with the three Linux professionals to review the identified common requirements, possible integration of requirements, and determine the management of unique requirements at the division level. The researcher is responsible for managing common and integrated requirements, and the appropriate department must handle unique needs. The requirements will get prioritized to determine the most essential in improving the Linux system. At the conclusion of this meeting, the division representatives will be tasked with formulating a solution for all unique requirements.

Iteration 4: Implementation and development

The researcher in this iteration will be required to analyze the feedback of any or all of the unique requirements from each of the divisions. Then, document a final process to collect ‘needs’ from each of the divisions. The documentation will include the new code for the proposed system. The coding of the proposed system will adhere to the specifications identified in previous systems as well as aim to achieve the set objectives.

Iteration 5: Installation and Maintenance
In this session, the installation of the proposed Linux system will involve a piloting model first to determine if the system functions properly. The Linux system will then get installed into various departments of the organizations through the step by step process. Configuring of the system will then get undertake. This session will also involve training of the users of the system. The Linux administrator will then monitor and maintain the new Linux system as it performs the defined functions. The Linux Administrator also manages the Linux files, directories, and processes.