Mining development transforms village in Nagornyy Karabakh
Golos Armenii web site, Yerevan
27 Jul 04
The village of Drmbon in Nagornyy Karabakh is being transformed thanks
to the development of the copper and gold deposits in the region, says
the writer Aris Kazinyan. The population of the village has risen from
460 before the war with Azerbaijan to the point where 820 are engaged
on working at the plant which produces 14,000 t of ore a month. The
following is the text of the article “14,000 t of ore in four shifts”,
posted on the Voice of Armenia web site on 27 July; subheadings
inserted editorially:
Transformation of a village
The village of Drmbon, which lies in the foothills of the Mrav on the
picturesque shores of the Sarsangskiy reservoir, is today one of the
largest and rapidly developing regions of Martakertskiy District in
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic. The village, which during the war
experienced all the horrors of Azerbaijani aggression, is now being
transformed and is expected to be given the status of an urban-type
settlement in the very near future. The wonderful natural setting of
the area clearly lends itself to a project which is being developed to
create a holiday resort centre. The construction of the North-South
trunk road, which is due to be completed in 2005, will provide the
necessary communications, and from April of this year work began on
laying the route for a 23-km section from Kichan to Drmbon.
The work of the Karabakh-Telecom company, which is providing permanent
mobile communications with the outside world, is worthy of special
mention in the development of the village and its integration into the
Armenian economy. At the present time one in three houses in Drmbon
has its own mobile telephone. This company has become a most important
boost to the economic development of the whole of
Artsakh. Karabakh-Telecom began operating in February 2002, and by
August the open joint-stock company Base Metals, which develops the
copper and gold deposits of Drmbon, had been set up. This mine is now
the hub of the village’s activity and the main guarantee of its
long-term development. “Before the war the population of the village
was just 460,” says local school director Sirush Alaverdyan. “When the
main fighting was over, about 320 of the villagers who had been
scattered all over came back and started rebuilding their homes.
There are now 630 people here, and half of them are specialists at the
ore-dressing combine who were invited from all over Armenia.”
Background to mining development
Armenia is one of the world’s first centres for copper mining and
working, and much of its latest output comes from deposits which were
either old or discarded for various reasons. It is significant that
from the middle of the 1980s Azerbaijan began carrying out geological
surveying at the Kyzylbulag mine (the Turkish name for the deposit),
which was completed in 1990. It was supposed that it would only be
worth commissioning the copper and gold deposits once the indigenous
Armenian population had been banished during the war. It was precisely
for this reason that the documentation on the gold reserves at
Kyzylbulag (13.5 t) was presented to the USSR state commission for
mineral reserves and protected in 1991, which was a most difficult
year for the people of Nagornyy Karabakh. Here one should remember
that the authorities of Soviet Azerbaijan, who had no doubts about the
swift deportation of the Armenians, insisted on a return for the use
of the mine and the foundation there of a dressing combine in
disregard of the position of the state commission which claimed that
there was already a similar factory in the region in Ararat, and there
was no need for another one. Virtually the whole of the powerful Baku
party apparatus was involved in the process of the “technical-economic
basis” for the use of the mine and attracting funds from the
centre. In the end the state commission gave in to the Azerbaijani
functionaries.
Clearly, such activity over the issue of the commissioning of Drmbon
could not occur in past periods of the development of the USSR:
moreover, similar prospecting, carried out for the first time by the
Azerbaijani leadership in 1934, because of the “populating of
Armenians” in the region, was immediately brought to a halt. The
motive for the suspension of the work was the same – “the time is not
right”. The time did come in August 2002, when Base Metals opened in
the already independent NKR, and which, as well as carrying out
geological surveying, also started to build an ore-dressing
combine. By April 2003 the first consignment of ore had been produced,
and the plant’s construction was completed in September. According to
company director Artur Mkrtumyan, the mine’s reserves are such that
industrial activity can be predicted for a period of 20 years. At the
present moment prospecting work is also being carried out in the
region of Tsakhkashen, where there are layers of precious metals.
“Today virtually all the able-bodied population of Drmbon is engaged
at the plant,” one of the workers, Armen Stepanyan, says. “The face of
the village is changing before our eyes and it is growing into a
settlement, providing work not just for us, but also for the people of
the neighbouring areas, as well as Armenian families who have moved to
the NKR. There are now 820 people working at the plant.”
Every month 14,000 tonnes of ore is extracted at the gold and copper
mine, and the same amount is being processed at the plant which works
around the clock in four shifts. The concentrate is in the main sent
to Armenia, from where the gold-bearing copper goes to the European
market. Some 7m dollars have been invested in the development of
Drmbon’s mines. The monthly wages fund is 10m drams.
More jobs and more schools
“The flood of people coming to Drmbon is, of course, great for the
overall economic development of the village,” the school director
says. “Families from Armenia, for example, are renting homes, often
repairing them, from which each villager gains. I am not even speaking
about the work at the plant, where the average wage is over 250
dollars. The strengthening of our area means we can think about
building a new school, because more families are moving to Drmbon.
This work today is being carried out by the All-Armenian Ayastan
foundation. The children of Drmbon will see in the new academic year
in a well-appointed modern school.”
The economic development of Drmbon, of course, annoys Azerbaijan. In
particular, the head of the National Geological Surveying Service of
the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Shakhbeddin
Musayev has said more than once that “Armenians should be grateful to
Azerbaijan for carrying out the geological survey work in the Soviet
period and the idea of creating the plant”. At the same time, of
course, he forgets to name the true reasons for Baku’s jealousy
regarding the start of the project at the beginning of the 1990s. He
also draws attention to the “scandalous ecological situation in the
region, which is the consequence of using cheap technology”. A
different view is held by specialists, including specialists from
abroad visiting the mine, who are not afraid of telling Baku that the
technology of the Drmbon mine meets all modern criteria.

Azeri party pickets Foreign Ministry over Armenian NATO visit
MPA news agency
2 Aug 04
BAKU
The United People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party UPFAP picketed the
Foreign Ministry at 1200 local time, 0700 gmt today in connection with
the forthcoming visit to Baku of an Armenian delegation to participate
in regular NATO exercises. MPA reports that despite police opposition
the protesters managed to picket the building and shout slogans for
20-25 minutes. The protesters say that despite the fact they back
Azerbaijan’s pro-West policies and cooperation with NATO, the UPFAP
will protest against any abasement of the republic and the Azerbaijani
people. The pickets demand that the Azerbaijani authorities do not
allow representatives of the occupying Armenian army to come to
Baku. The demand was handed over to Foreign Ministry representatives.
Azerbaijani news agency Turan reported on 30 July that the Baku
mayor’s office had refused to authorize the picket.

Lebanese Christian and Muslim clerics denounce church bombings in Iraq
AP
2 Aug 04
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Leading Christian and Muslim clerics on Monday denounced the wave of
church bombings in Iraq as violence that harms both Christians and
Muslims and called for dialogue and solidarity to solve disputes and
prevent such acts in the future.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid also condemned the bombing,
indirectly blaming Israel.
“The results of such attacks are a service to the Israeli project
… which is based on the clash of civilizations, cultures and
religions,” he said.
A series of explosions outside five churches Baghdad and Mosul Sunday
killed at least seven people and injured more than 30 in the first
major assault on Iraq’s Christian minority since the 15-month-old
insurgency began. There was no claim of responsibility, though they
assailants are believed Islamist militants.
“Neither Islam nor Christianity will accept violence as a way to solve
problems,” said Aram I, head of the Armenian Orthodox Church in the
diaspora.
An Armenian church in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood was one of those
attacked. Iraq has an Armenian community of some 15,000 people.
“Violence in all forms and expressions is against human and religious
values and principles. We have repeatedly stressed the need for
dialogue, solidarity, mutual tolerance, respect and understanding,”
Aram I said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.
He called on the Iraqi government “to take the necessary measures to
protect the rights and the well being of all the citizens.”
Lebanon’s most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hussein
Fadlallah, said the church bombings should be viewed “in a rational
manner away from the emotional instincts,” saying the perpetrators
purpose was to spread sedition between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and
between Muslims and Christians.
“Our relations as people of the Divine Books make it imperative to
continue to communicate and stand together against the sedition
mongers … those local and those coming from abroad, and those who
bring in with them sedition mongers from the Israeli Mossad
(intelligence),” Fadllalah said in a faxed statement.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

zawya
Bahrain mulling gas deal with Iran, Qatar: report
02 August 2004
Tehran — Bahrain plans to sign agreements with Iran and Qatar next year for
the purchase of gas, a Bahraini press report said, citing a finance ministry
official.
The projects involve pipe laying under the Persian Gulf, which is expected
to finish by 2009, Bahrain Tribune said on its website, quoting
Undersecretary for Finance and National Economy, Shaikh Ibrahim bin Khalifa
al-Khalifa.
It put the cost of the projects at one billion Bahraini dinars. Shaikh
Ibrahim said talks with Iran and Qatar were `progressing smoothly and would
be completed by the year-end`, Bahrain Tribune said.
It said, “Iran has affirmed its keenness to take part in the joint
investment project and provide investment options.”
The Itar-Tass news agency said last month that Iran had begun building a
140-km-long gas pipeline to Armenia. It said the two countries had signed an
agreement on the project worth around 120 million US dollars in May, when
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh visited Yerevan.
Under its provisions, Iran will be supplying 36 billion cubic meters of
natural gas to Armenia annually from 2007 through 2027. Itar-Tass, citing
OPEC sources in Vienna, said that the pipeline might be used to ship Iranian
gas to Georgia, Ukraine and farther on to Europe in the future.
Tehran has already a multi-billion-dollar contract with neighboring Turkey
to supply gas for 25 years. The gas flow was launched in December 2001 via a
2,577-kilometer pipeline, running from the northeastern city of Tabriz to
Ankara, which supplies gas from southern Iran near the Persian Gulf.
The contract has been a boon to Iran`s bid to become a sustainable gas
supplier to Turkey and Europe.
Looking for alternative markets, Tehran has held talks with the Persian Gulf
littoral states and the Central Asian nations for the sale of gas.
The country sits on the second largest proven gas reserves of the world
after Russia, which has been a headache for Iran by getting into, what is
feared to be, an unnecessary and costly competition.
© IRNA 2004
Article originally published by IRNA 02-Aug-04
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
August 2, 2004
___________________
CHURCH LEADERS PUSH FOR ACTION ON CATASTROPHE IN SUDAN
By Jake Goshert
The Armenian Church is taking a leading role in pushing for action to
end the genocide which is beginning in the Sudan.
Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of the Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), led a protest outside the
Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C. on Friday, July 23, 2004. He was
joined by religious leaders and supporters from the Armenian Assembly of
America.
“My message was that genocide is not acceptable, especially in the
beginning of the 21st century,” said Bishop Aykazian, who led a prayer
during the protest and also spoke for the group to various media
outlets. “I told them I know what genocide means, because my people
have suffered through genocide. So we ask the authorities and the
people to come together to fight against the genocide.”
Bishop Aykazian, who serves as secretary to the executive committee of
the National Council of Churches (NCC), has talked about the issue with
leaders of that ecumenical body and is one of the organization’s leaders
calling for international action to end the violence in the Sudan, where
the Janjaweed — a government-backed nomadic Arab tribe — has raped,
killed, and burnt the homes of black, non-Arab residents in the nation’s
Darfur region in attempt to get them to leave their lands, which the
Arab government has promised to the mercenaries.
Those able to flee the Sudan have been pouring into neighboring Chad,
where food, water, and shelter are growing scarce. American officials
have unsuccessfully called on Sudan to allow humanitarian aid to flow
into the Darfur area. The Bush administration has already pledged $300
million in aid.
With American pressure, the United Nations Security Council passed a
resolution at the end of July calling for sanctions against Sudan unless
the violence ends. (Sudan was recently elected to a three-year term on
the U.N. Human Rights Commission.)
The violence has already claimed an estimated 50,000 lives and displaced
a million people. During the protest at the Sudanese Embassy, the group
called not only for an end to the violence, but also for humanitarian
aid and financial support for the displaced non-Arab victims.
USING THE RIGHT WORDS
Right now the activists are struggling on two fronts: to gather
humanitarian assistance and to get the violence to be called genocide.
“According to the experts, it is genocide. It really bothers me when
the authorities and the government do not use the word genocide, because
it is genocide. We have to use the word genocide,” Bishop Aykazian
said. “We have no right to use the word ‘massacres’, because other
nations used that word when talking about the Armenian Genocide, and
that bothers us. So we have to use the word ‘genocide’.”
“Genocide goes beyond violence,” Bishop Aykazian added. “It is not only
killing human beings; it is killing the culture of a nation, of a
minority, of a race. Genocide is the destruction of a group of people
and the destruction of their history.”
CONTINUED CALLS FOR ACTION
The NCC’s executive board passed a resolution on Tuesday, May 18, 2004,
urging member churches to push for cessation of the apparent attempt at
ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
The first NCC resolution dealing with the Sudan was approved in 2002.
This recent resolution “affirms and extends” the calls to action made in
the earlier statement of the NCC Executive Board — an 80-member body
representing leaders from the NCC’s 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and
Anglican member churches.
The organization is also raising funds to send supplies of food and
clothing to the refugees streaming out of Sudan and into neighboring
Chad.
The Eastern Diocese will be raising funds through its local parishes to
provide aid to the victims in the Sudan through the National Council of
Churches.
“Today it is happening in the Sudan, and tomorrow it can happen in any
part of the world. When you need help, you ask other people to help
you. So make sure when others ask for help you don’t just keep quiet
because you don’t want to put your hands into your pockets,” he said.
“As Armenians especially, we have no right to just keep quiet.”
— 8/2/04
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): Bishop Vicken Aykazian, diocesan legate and
ecumenical officer, leads a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in
Washington, D.C., on Friday, July 23, 2004.
PHOTO CAPTION (2): Dozens of people join Bishop Aykazian in a protest
calling for an end to the genocide in the Sudan.

The snake
Fish.com

Lebanese Armenians to help in “reconstruction” of Karabakh town – web site
Azg web site, Yerevan
1 Aug 04
Text of report in English by Armenian newspaper Azg web site on 1
August headlined “Armenians of Lebanon to contribute to Shushi’s
reconstruction”
Yesterday 31 July Arkadiy Gukasyan, president of Nagornyy Karabakh,
received Grigor Galust, co-chairman of “Shushi” foundation and
director of Beirut Mesropian College, and Bakur Karapetian, co-chair
of the same foundation and publicist. Galust told Gukasyan that their
visit is aimed to get acquainted to the activities of the foundation
in the issue of Sushi’s Susa reconstruction. Regnum news agency
informed that Galust expressed readiness to assist in the
reconstruction of Karabakh churches on behalf of Nerses Petros XIX,
head of Beirut’s Armenian Apostolic Church.

First-ever Nagornyy Karabakh football league set to kick off 1 August
Arminfo
31 Jul 04
STEPANAKERT
The Nagornyy Karabakh Republic will start to have its own open
football league on 1 August.
Ayk Dzhavadyan, vice-president of the Artsakh Armenian name for
Karabakh Football Federation, which was registered recently, announced
this at a press conference in Stepanakert capital of Nagornyy Karabakh
today. He said that in Soviet times Nagornyy Karabakh football had
been represented by the “Karabakh” team which had been successful
enough to get into the USSR’s 2nd league division. Football was a
popular and well-liked game in Karabakh but football life in the
republic had died because of the armed conflict with Azerbaijan up
until 1994. From 1994-95 several Karabakh teams had had to join the
Armenian leagues. And so from 1 August Karabakh will have its own
league, Ayk Dzhavadyan said.
He announced that having the league was possible thanks to the active
cooperation of Arkadiy Gukasyan, president of the republic, and the
Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, as well as from the US
entrepreneur and philanthropist Grach Kaprielian, who is also the
president of the Artsakhk Football Federation.
Ayk Dzhavadyan also said that in the last 2-3 years 500,000 US dollars
had been invested in developing football in Karabakh. “The Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic’s football league is aimed not only at reviving the
best traditions of Karabakh football, improving the physical health of
the population and providing means for practising this sport, which is
popular throughout the world, but also at contributing towards the
coming into being and strengthening of our state and helping the
international recognition of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic. We also
hope to set up close ties and cooperation with teams from other
countries,” Ayk Dzhavadyan noted.
Nine teams will take part in the league which will be run along
European lines. The teams are from Stepanakert and all regions of
Nagornyy Karabakh, as well as one team from the town of Goris in the
Republic of Armenia. The Nagornyy Karabakh Republic’s championship
league will end in the middle of November. The winners will receive
medals, certificates and prizes.

Aberdeen Press and Journal
July 31, 2004
Festival to showcase young musical talent
Nichola Workman
Young musicians from across the globe will descend on Aberdeen next
week for 11 days of music, dance and drama. For the Granite City will
play host to more than 600 talented musicians from local and foreign
shores for the 32nd Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
A total of 14 countries, from as far apart as Indonesia and
Kazakhstan, will be represented at the prestigious event. And
performances by ballet stars, opera singers, orchestras and rock
stars will take over stages in 30 venues across the city.
But the festival will not only showcase talent from overseas –
highlights of the event include performances by local performers and
musicians.
Indeed, the Bucksburn and District Juvenile Pipe Band will lead a
spectacular parade from Castlegate, along Union Street, on Wednesday
– the very first day of this year’s annual music celebration.
They will be followed by 21 groups of dazzling performers, many
dressed in national dress, singing and dancing their way to the
official opening ceremony in the city’s Music Hall. That will mark
the start of more than a week of shows in Aberdeen itself and a tour
of towns and villages as far afield as Ballater, Findhorn and
Arbroath.
Even office workers taking a break over lunch will be able to indulge
in a spot of culture, as some groups take to the stage for special
lunchtime performances. But the high point of the festival will
surely be the World Music Evening next Saturday.
Hosted by local Big Brother winner Cameron Stout, the event will also
coincide with the city’s Tartan Day celebrations. It will feature
music from the Toronto All Stars Steel Band, the Kyara Sound Team
from Japan, an Angklung orchestra from Indonesia, and musicians from
The Splore – the festival’s traditional Scottish Music School.
Another must-see promises to be a performance of The Magic Flute at
the MacRobert Hall, featuring on-the-brink-of-stardom opera singers
from Iceland, Sweden, France and Canada. Three local girls from Cults
Academy will also be among the cast, while the orchestra is the
Yerevan Youth Chamber Orchestra from Armenia.
The opera will be performed on Thursday, and Saturday but they will
put on an extra show next Monday especially for “opera-virgins”. The
pay-what-you-can night is a free performance aimed at bringing in
people who have never witnessed an opera. The audience will pay what
they can on leaving the hall.
For fans of rock and dance music, a festival club night is being laid
on at The Lemon Tree, where Kazakhstan band Ulytau will be top of the
bill. Local favourites Amy Sawyer and Stanley will also be
performing. And at the same venue, the International Mod will provide
a setting for the festival’s biggest jamming session.
Organisers hope to combine instruments never seen together before to
create a totally new sound.
The Lemon Tree’s Jamie Marshall said: “I’m certain we’re in for some
sparkling entertainment.” For more information about the festival, log
on to “. For tickets, contact the Aberdeen Box Office on
01224 641122.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
August 1, 2004 Sunday Home Edition
Trip teaches lesson on jobs;
CEO: Offshoring costly, arduous
by TAMMY JOYNER
Sometimes the answer is right in your own back yard.
Dustin Crane traveled tens of thousands of miles from home to learn
that business lesson.
The Alpharetta executive had a decision to make: Set up shop overseas
or team up with an overseas company. Either way, clients of his
Alpharetta technology firm were pressuring him to cut costs by
sending his company’s work to overseas software developers and
programmers.
“This offshoring juggernaut wasn’t going to let up,” said Crane, 45,
who founded Aelera Corp. 10 years ago. “We said we can’t ignore it.
The pressure’s going to be so great, we better have a solution
available.”
Crane traveled to three countries to get a firsthand look at the
overseas production craze.
He had every intention of setting up shop abroad, perhaps in India
first, followed by expansion to China. Many businesses have touted
offshoring as the cheapest way to go when faced with global
competition. For some industries and in certain circumstances, it is
a money-saver.
What Crane found, though, was a lot of hidden costs and problems not
typically associated with overseas outsourcing.
“I was constantly going, ‘My gosh, this is more costly [than I’d
expected],’ ” Crane said.
It wasn’t just the unexpected extra financial costs. Sending work
overseas can be culturally and linguistically challenging, and
workers there face harsh living and working conditions.
Crane says some U.S. tech companies have to deal with on-the-job
communication mix-ups. It’s not unusual for overseas information
technology projects to arrive stateside and have to be recoded by
American workers.
“When we started adding up all of the risk factors associated with
this offshoring,” Crane said, it didn’t pay off.
So instead of sending work abroad, Aelera recently announced it will
create 250 jobs in Savannah and Fitzgerald, where software
developers, programmers and support staff will design systems that
help Aelera clients’ customers order goods and services online,
schedule appointments and meet other technological needs.
Aelera isn’t alone in rethinking the merits of outsourcing. Last
week, Delta Air Lines announced it had dropped one of three
offshoring contracts that supply call-center services overseas.
“We’re not touting this as a political move or to save U.S. jobs,”
said Crane. “This just makes business sense.”
A survey on outsourcing recently done by Aelera mirrored Crane’s
views. The survey of 216 top-level U.S. executives indicated that
half of the respondents that had overseas projects were likely to
bring the work back to the United States. The survey found the
companies didn’t realize the cost savings they had expected.
Many had expected 30 percent to 40 percent in savings by going
overseas, but the average savings were about 20 percent. One in 10
didn’t see any savings at all. One in five of the information
technology projects sent overseas ultimately failed. The biggest
culprits: poor transfer of knowledge, work quality and low morale
among their U.S. work force, which led to poor productivity overall.
The overseas outsourcing boom is working on two cyclinders. It’s
providing U.S. firms with low-cost workers and creating a level of
prosperity for many overseas workers who, in turn, are taking
advantage of their new way of life.
The surge in technology outsourcing, for one, has created a middle
class with middle-class appetites for better homes and cars and
paychecks. These sought-after workers are demanding and getting
better salaries. And that’s creating increased labor costs for U.S.
firms.
“A lot of people outsource because they think it’s cheaper,” said
Tony Greenberg, chief executive of RampRate Sourcing Advisors. “But
it’s not. They’re not looking at the hard costs or soft costs.”
Nine-month odyssey
Crane’s story goes beyond surveys and data. It began almost two years
ago and culminated with a nine-month journey through Armenia, China
and India.
He made the customary plant visits and met with officials. But he
preferred to venture off the beaten path, taking trains and cabs and
rental cars, as opposed to air-conditioned limos.
He kept a diary of his journey and often traveled in cargo pants,
tennis shoes and a Braves T-shirt. He ducked into shops and roadside
stands. He talked to street vendors, visited libraries and
universities, and talked to students. He took in the markets where
locals bartered for goods, all to get a feel for how the average
worker lives and works.
“This wasn’t a cursory blow-through as a CEO or executive,” Crane
said. “I wanted to go experience what these countries were. I didn’t
want to go as a CEO. I wanted to get my fingernails dirty.”
He found that outsourcing may work for companies with call centers
abroad, but not for a $10 million-a-year information technology firm
like Aelera. Not for programmers and developers who depend on
teamwork, business nuances and a stress-free work environment to
create software systems.
“It’s one thing to offshore call-center work where transactions last
one to five minutes and repeat 20 times an hour,” Crane said. “It’s
different to offshore a piece of work that takes two to three months
to master and maintain that momentum and productivity.”
The company takes such pains to create a conducive work environment
that once, when a database administrator was “getting bogged down” by
his commute from Lawrenceville to Alpharetta, Aelera paid to move him
and his family closer to work.
“That improved his family life and productivity,” Crane said. “That’s
what we’re focused on.”
Creating that kind of atmosphere abroad would be nearly impossible,
considering what Crane saw:

* Pollution was so thick in one Chinese town that he had trouble
breathing. High-rises seem to vanish behind towers of brown clouds.
“I felt like I was slowly suffocating. I thought, ‘This is horrible.
People have to live in this environment.’ ”

* Office space in India turned out to be more expensive in some cases
than some parts of Atlanta, and “the facilities weren’t nearly as
good.”

* Traffic jams were so bad that during one cab ride in the Indian
city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the driver got out, ate dinner and
returned to the taxi, which was still in the same spot where he left
it because traffic hadn’t budged. Crane was still sitting waiting
inside. To combat traffic, some companies have set up bus services to
get employees to work.

* Crane found out-of-reach costs among the so-called cost savings
touted by Armenians. When Crane asked about installing a DSL line, he
was told it would cost $5,000 a month for the service that is
normally $50 in the States.

* Workers were so jammed into cubicles that they had to tuck in their
elbows to keep from bumping each other. During a demonstration at
another firm, the presentation was interrupted by technical glitches.
At one point, Crane saw a cockroach scamper across the keyboard.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘There’s more than one kind of bug here,’ ”
Crane said.
At times, the experience was unsettling, bringing Crane’s Western
ways face-to-face with worlds where prosperity often collided with
poverty. That was the case when he landed at the airport in Mumbai.
“It was fourth world, almost fifth world” in its appearance, he
recalled.
The shuttle waiting to take him to his hotel was an air-conditioned
BMW 740i. A minute earlier, he said “three beggars [are] saying ‘Give
me a penny.’ It’s truly a country of contrast.”
On the ride to the hotel, Crane said he couldn’t help but think:
“This opulence of the moment could feed 20 or 30 people. It didn’t
make me feel comfortable.”
Journey’s beginning
Crane’s nine-month process of elimination began in Yerevan, Armenia,
a city of about 1.25 million people.
Armenia is my first stop. I landed at midnight shocked at the dearth
of city lights below. The pilot announced, ‘If this is your first
time in Yerevan, be aware that the landing will be rough due to the
condition of the runway.’ … When the runway lights did not come on
in time, he did an abrupt fly-around for a second try. This former
republic of the Soviet Union still shows signs of its time behind the
Iron Curtain. The drive to the hotel was punctuated with random
police inspections. … It is clear the city is in need of much more
commerce. With a vibrant economy, it would be a lovely place, but
right now it is very run-down.
Crane found the city “wasn’t as alive and dynamic as we are here.”
And there weren’t enough resources, namely qualified students and/or
qualified software developers, Crane said. Universities there turn
out roughly 1,000 to 2,000 such workers a year, vs. 300,000 to
400,000 in India, Crane said.
“I liked Armenia and its people. [But] I didn’t want to bet my
business on it.”
Guangzhou, China. I tried to talk to as many [software] developers as
I could to determine both their language and skill levels. These
young people had worked hard at honing their English, but still
lacked the ability to field questions and comprehend the directions
the questions were heading … I see potential issues with knowledge
transfer, communications, business culture differences and living
conditions.
Heading by train into the Chinese seaport city of Guangzhou
(pronounced GWAN-JOW and formerly called Canton), Crane rode straight
into a huge brown cloud of pollution.
Beyond the smog, Crane was struck by how few people had a real grasp
of English, a key requirement for working with complex technology
projects.
“When you go offshore, it’s all about communication when it comes to
software. This is not paint by number,” said Crane, who speaks some
Cantonese. “You need to be able to define the problems so you can
define the solutions. Although a few were exceptional, [overall] they
were lacking in English.”
Crane’s assessment of China?
“China is going to be the place in the next 10 years. But they’re not
developed to the point of [being] ready for prime time now.”
Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. Suds will be my travel guide.
We have been in and out of technology parks, observing and talking to
developers. Seems like India is in the middle of their tech bubble.
People are willing to switch jobs for an extra quarter an hour. The
conditions appear to be unstable, maybe unsustainable.
India, in some ways, is becoming a victim of its emerging success,
Crane said.
The most cosmopolitan of the three cities Crane visited was
Bangalore, where workers were technologically skilled, he said.
Business is conducted in English, and the culture is steeped in
democracy. But it still had its own set of problems, starting with a
10 1/2-hour time difference.
The outsourcing and technology boom has created a middle class in
places like Bangalore, but many of the towns haven’t kept pace with
the changes. Workers are making more money. In turn, they’re
demanding — and getting — the conveniences that go along with
being middle class. There are traffic jams at 1 a.m.
“One thing India touts [is] labor rates are low,” Crane said. “What
we discovered there was a lot of additional costs.”
An engineer from a top tech university in India commands about
$10,000 a year in salary. An Indian software developer with a
master’s degree from a university in India would get about $50,000 a
year.
A U.S. engineer who has a bachelor’s degree commands about $60,000 to
$70,000 a year. An American software developer with a master’s would
get $70,000 to $80,000 a year on average. In Atlanta, the going rate
is about $70,000 for an engineer with a bachelor’s.
“If you look at the [labor] rates you could be intoxicated by the
savings,” Crane admits. “But if you looked at the entire cost …
clearly there’s a very good alternative. Many large companies say
they have no choice. They have to go offshore. We want them to hear
loud and clear that there is [an alternative].”
Aelera’s decision to stay in Georgia speaks to another trend.
Spherion Corp., a staffing company that runs call centers across
North America, said it’s seeing companies looking to smaller U.S.
markets to fulfill customer service needs instead of big cities or
overseas.
“Small American markets are ideal for companies to locate their call
centers because they offer lower-cost labor, available real estate
and attractive incentives from local and state governments,” said
Robert Morgan, president of employment solutions at Spherion Corp.
“In exchange, the town gets a thriving new business that feeds the
local economy and lowers unemployment.”