Newsworthy Items

Two US Companies adjust to the changing market to offer outsourcing services.
A report in Smart Brief stated that OnForce and Autotask have expanded their collaboration making, and deploying local IT services quicker, easier and more cost ffficient. Autotask is extending its integration with the OnForce platform to make it easier for customers to outsource their service needs by tapping into a virtual nationwide network of service technicians and matching and deploying IT service projects from start to finish.

China's Neusoft Gained 18.2% Net Profit Growth and 29.6% Overseas Outsourcing Increase in 2008
Smart Brief reported this morning that Neusoft Corporation, a leading IT solutions & services provider as well as the largest offshore software & service outsourcing provider in China, published its 2008 Annual Report recently. The report indicates a continuously high-speed growth in its two core businesses, industry solutions and product engineering solutions, based upon its overall business strategy in both domestic and international markets. More evidence that India is not the only country with growth in the off shoring arena.

India inc. gets White House meeting on H-1B Visas
An article in Computer World.com reported that a delegation from one of India's largest business groups visited Washington to make a case for the H-1B visa program, among other political topics. Apparently it was a group with enough clout to meet with top White House officials. In India, these visas are seen as critical to that country's IT services industry. The Obama administration has yet to outline its plans for the H-1B program, but the White House has given some signals that it might support an increase in the annual visa cap — primarily via the appointment of officials who have advocated cap increases in the past, such as Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona and now secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

When Obama was a U.S. senator, he supported a comprehensive immigration reform bill that was proposed in 2007 but never voted on after its sponsors failed to get enough support for a procedural motion to end debate. That bill would have raised the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 regular visas to as many as 180,000, while also authorizing additional visas for foreigners with advanced degrees from U.S. universities beyond the 20,000 that currently can be issued each year. Since 2007, Obama has continued to urge support for comprehensive immigration reform, but without being specific on the issue of raising the H-1B cap.