Summarizing how information security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Summarizing how information security - Essay Example Information Security System of Citibank With Respect To CIA Triangle CIA Principle The CIA triad namely Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability can be considered as one of the simple and widely applicable security models for an organization which assures to protect all kinds of information from external threats. These three major principles are supposed to be relevant with the entire security analysis of an organization (Imperial College London, 2012). Confidentiality: Confidentiality can be acknowledged as the ability to maintain secrecy of information from unauthorized external users. It is possibly the major apparent aspect of the CIA triangle in terms of security assurance for an organization. However, this principle is frequently attacked by the external users through Cryptography and Encryption techniques in order to transfer files or information from one system to another (Imperial College London, 2012). In the context of Citibank, it has been found that the organization s eeks to implement a well-built security system in order to protect the information related to financial aspects and other banking transactions of its 200 million customers (Citigroup Inc., 2012). Integrity: According to the CIA principle, the aspect of integrity can be stated as the ability to make sure of keeping or storing data or information in an appropriate and unaffected way. It has been learnt that Citibank manages the personal data, records as well as information of each client in an appropriate manner and with the assistance of Citi Records Management Policy as well as Citi Data Management Policy. Furthermore, the organization implements advanced security processing system of each data, record or information that are collected from individual clients in terms of appropriate and secured storage capacity (Citigroup Inc., 2012). Availability: This principle of the CIA triad relates to the accessibility of transaction records or information by an appropriate and authorized user at the right time. However, various security issues with respect to accessing transactional record and information of a client by other external or unauthorized persons have been recorded. The organization is known to adopt an advanced form of process to identify the appropriate and authorized persons (Citigroup Inc., 2012). Security Policies in Citibank Citibank ensures an effective and efficient form of security policy regarding maintaining and protecting data, information or record of its individual client. In the context of information security, it can be stated that the organization strictly maintains laws and regulations in order to increase the level of protecting information from external threats. Citibank significantly pursues a formal set of rules and regulations pertaining to The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) which is also known as ‘Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999.’ According to this Act, the financial service providers need to possess appropria te information security systems in order to maintain and protect the personal form of information of each client. Moreover, the regulatory Act also focuses on maintaining an effective and appropriate CIA principle with respect to the various transactions made by any financial institution

Performance Measurement System Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance Measurement System - Assignment Example Based on these explanations, it would be appreciated that using relevant data instead of convenient data for any performance-measurement system ensures that the outcome of the system will be one that directly reflects exactly what needs to be measured. For example when measuring competence of employees, their graduate scores may be convenient as these may be readily available. However, given the time elapse from time of graduation to the current state however, it would be relevant to use newly collected data about employees that reflect their current state of competence and performance. One of the major reasons most HR managers have preferred the use of convenient data over relevant data is that they find it more costly in terms of resources and time used to gather relevant data. Few (2007) however warned that there are several negative impacts that come with the use of wrong data in any organizational set up. The first challenge is that it is not possible to get the right frame of employee performance based on their current state of work. Using the same example given earlier, it could be that someone who came to the organization with first class has now relented in productivity but another who came with third class has picked up a lot of experience and thus improved in work output. When such old data which are considered convenient but wrong are used, it will be very difficult to get the true present state of performance. What is worse, there are long term direct impact of using wrong data on the organization. For example such wrong data can lead to wrong placemen t of employees, which can also lead to poor delivery of work because employees may not be conversant with placements given to them (Becker, Huselid & Ulrich, 2001). This situation could also be the cause of lower productivity, which will affect profitability and growth negatively. For any typical

Analysis of Strategies for Expansion into UK

Analysis of Strategies for Expansion into UK Introduction Research Content:- Over the last few decades, there has been a tremendous growth in the volume of business. A number of new players have entered the business world and as a result there is fierce competition making survival very difficult. Therefore it is imperative that Companies establish a sustainable competitive advantage over other competitors. One key strategy that companies have often adopted to sustain in the long term is continuous growth to become recognised brand and dominant that they can set the agenda. Thus we see huge multi-national corporate in various sectors particularly in retail, food and beverages that are dominant and sometimes act as monopolies. However, pursuing a strategy of growth simply does not mean that corporate can expand their businesses, survive and remain successful. In the past, many organisations have adopted various strategies and implemented all of them but have failed. This is because like any other strategy, growth strategies must be carefully formulated and prop erly implemented. If not, there could be severe consequences. There are many organisations particularly in the UK that are aspiring to expand their presence. However, a number of huge western based multi-nationals exist that are dominant and follow entry deterrence strategies such as patents, limit pricing, cost advantages, aggressive advertising and marketing etc, in order to prevent other organisations from taking their market share or eroding their margins. We shall study in this dissertation, the growth strategies that such emerging organisations adopt and implement to capture the markets and also see how they encounter the indirect entry barriers imposed by the giant multi-nationals. Aims Objectives The Goal of this dissertation is: to analyse the various strategies that can be composed by an organisation and the ways that they should be implemented; to list the various possible outcomes that can be achieved by an organisation with proper planning and implementation of a strategy; to study the reasons why it is important for organisations to plan and have alternative strategies Even though many companies form strategies and implement them, not all of them may succeed. So, why do companies fail to achieve their objectives with the implemented strategies. The main purpose of this research would be based on Andronicas World Of Coffee (AWOC), the way they work on the strategies they plan and the implementation process to make it a success. A Study would be done on the problem that they have faced and are facing in the present and the past while implementing their Retail business strategies to become a recognized brand. The objective is to complete the study with all the required literature review and theory which relates to strategies formulation and implementation. Analyses the reasons, motives, process and other aspects related to strategies formulation and implementation. The main objective is to have a brief study on how Andronicas- world of coffee has planned its strategy and has implemented it, in order to enter highly competitive market of coffee chains and become a leading Retailer in UK. Analysis will also be done on the performance of this organisation and the growth achieved in short span of time. The objectives that we aim to explore are given below : To Examine the strategies formulated by Andronicas- World of Coffee for establishing their retail business within UK. To analyse the different steps and ideas they used and implemented for establishing their retail business in LONDON. To find out what Andronicas- World of Coffee was and what it is now after the implementation of its formulated strategy. To study the impact of ongoing Financial crisis on Andronicas as a business. Purpose of Study:- The fast growing competition in business market has raised the need for new markets. This has inspired many small organisations to grow and provided opportunities, for which various strategy needs to be formulated. The purpose of research is on what field a company needs to concentrate and what strategy it should apply in order to enter the highly competitive market. The implementation plans of company play a vital role. Even though strategies are planned well but some companies fail during the implementation process, this is because of improper communication/ short term plans. The implementation process needs to be monitored very carefully. The purpose of the study is to identify the strategies that organisations plan and the way they try to implement it. The main aim of this study is to describe a method that can be adopted by Small medium enterprise to enter a highly competitive market that is already dominated by big market players with the Example of Andronicas -World of Coffee. Managers and leaders of companies are constantly involved into decision-making. They use different types of strategy to ensure that their business not only survives but brings profit. . Strategic ideas are relevant for all types of organization, and many of the key issues are the same although they may differ in their relative significance. All businesses in the competitive environment are affected by strategy and strategic issues if not their own, then those of the competition or the external environment[2]. Long-term strategic success requires coordination of the managers efforts and effective structure of the managerial department of the company. Introduction to the Industry Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical Jonathan Swift, 1722 Possibly the cradle of mankind, the ancient land of Abyssinia, now know as Ethiopia, is the place where coffee was born. In todays world beverages sector comprising of coffee as a sub sector is one of the key segments of the economy having extensive and forward and backward linkages with other key segments of the economy. According to the latest coffee statistics from the International Coffee Organization (ICO), we pour about 1.4 billion cups of coffee a day worldwide. In fact when we look at per capita coffee consumption, the U.K. is #22 on the list with about 5 kilograms of coffee per person per year[3]. The coffee industry has grown rapidly since the 1990s; before Starbucks emerged, people were used to drinking low quality coffee from tins. Starbucks introduced fresh coffee made from top quality beans that have excellent taste and drinks such as the caffe latte and cappuccino, which have helped to fuel the development of the coffee market into a multi million pound industry. The size of UK branded coffee chains have quadrupled from 1999 to 2004, with a current market turnover of over  £1 billion. However, Britains coffee may finally be taking a new direction. Take a walk through London and youll see a rash of trendy independent coffee houses, with blackboards boasting of freshly roasted, Fair Trade beans and organic milk. Retail sales at specialist coffee shops reached  £1 billion for the first time in 2007 and were almost  £1.2 billion in 2008. High street chains such as Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero are also performing well, with 890 new branches of branded coffee shops expected to open before 2012, but they are upping their game to meet our rising expectations. Jeffrey Young, of the consumer analysts Allegra Strategies, says: â€Å"Were seeing a movement to a stronger coffee palate. People say that their Starbucks is not strong enough, that Nero is stronger than their Costa. Thats something that no one was talking about ten years ago. There has been a massive revolution in coffee drinking, from drinking instant or filtered in a polystyrene cup a decade ago to espresso-based drinks made from 100 per cent Arabica beans today.† UK being an upcoming market for coffee shops, with an estimation of more than 11000 outlets opened so far and number still increasing. The total turnover of the whole coffee industry is estimated to be over  £1.63 billion for year 2009.[4] Estimations for year 2010 are expected more than 13000 coffee shops, including small, medium and independent businesses Introduction to Andronicas World of Coffee (Source: Andrew Knight) Form of Ownership: -Andronicas Coffee is a private limited company whose entire share capital is under the control and ownership of Andrew Knight. Andronicas Coffee a coffee roaster/ supplier vertically integrated, accessing green coffee at source, roasting and processing through to the point of sale, via either catering or retail industries and including the equipment required to produce the finished drink. With a 25year history of selling, serving and operating retail outlets, adopting the best of both the Seattle and European model. Focused now on trade sales identifying customers whose ideals of quality, taste and service, expectation are at the top end of the market and who see outlet expansion as the driver for their business. Promotion of our brand identity is important but secondary to the overall success and profitable growth of our business. To develop staff skills and competence to recruit to fill any gaps and to take the opportunity forward, always keeping in mind the potential property opportunity as it arises and being in a position to take it up. Maintaining our commitment to re-invest each year across marketing , new plant, product development and if appropriate acquisition i.e. office coffee service. Not to lose sight of what we have in the pursuit of what we want. Strive to do what we do better always. The company commenced business as a retailer of real coffee in the Kensington department store, Barkers in 1979. The addition of a tasting facility lead to our first conflict the restaurant manager unhappy that we should be offering a free tasting to his potential customers as they walked through the door resulted in some initial difficulty. The compromise reached with the store manager was that we could charge for our sample. This led us to operating one of the first espresso bars in London. It was popular with both the store and customers in equal measure, was extremely profitable, our rent being based on a percentage of sales and led directly to the opportunity to replicate the model at a second House of Fraser store in Londons Victoria, just 18 months after the Kensington store opened. At this time we had installed a small coffee roasting machine. This brought a multiple benefit; vertical integration, aroma at the point of sale, credibility and increased profit. When House of Fraser invited us to open a third site at Rackhams of Birmingham, it was at the banks suggestion that we should try for our own site. This led to acquiring a lease at 15 St Johns Wood High Street in 1983. We had by this time embarked on the wholesale side of coffee supply to local restaurants and with the acquisition of the lease at St Johns Wood installed a 25 kilo professional coffee roasting machine in order to become self sufficient with our coffee. We considered franchising as a possible means of further expansion. The St Johns Wood shop was the ideal coffee shop model; a catering led operation, roasting on-site, front and rear access and space for an office. By now the coffee shop offer was growing to include a lunch-time dish of the day. It was around 1988, we received the disappointing news, Barkers was to be redeveloped and all concessions were given 6 months notice to quit. Certainly this was a rude awakening, how quickly 6 months goes. So we acquired the lease of another shop nearby in Kensington Court and then had four sites, all trading in profit, each slightly different. Just as we had spare space in St Johns Wood, so too a basement in Kensington allowed for the acquisition of a proper factory packing machine, allowed us more control, independence and profitability. As we assessed a way forward at that time, the expansion of the wholesale side of the business appealed more and our view that department stores, not delicatessen shops were the place to sell real coffee to the consumer, that led us to target Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum and Mason and Harvey Nichols. In order to access funds to finance a production facility, we had to sell the lease on one of the two London shops. The first offer was for St Johns Wood, so that sale allowed us the opportunity to put a production facility in place in a railway arch in Camberwell. The successful conclusion of the contract to supply all Harrods retail coffee resulted in the need to acquire plant machinery, printing and packaging which quickly burnt through the  £120,000 that was paid for St Johns Wood and forced the sale of the Kensington shop to give us sufficient cash flow. (The Kensington shop sale was another fascinating lesson in small business management, but not terribly relevant to this). Suffice to say, the timing of the sale was perfect and ultimately led to the opportunity to acquire the freehold of Great Eastern Street. Having successfully become the supplier to Harrods, we added the exclusive supply of coffee by catering and retail to Harvey Nichols (that was juggling) and Selfridges. Today even fifteen years later, we are still in that happy position and whilst we only supply a few fringe coffee beans to Fortnum Mason, as the family owning the store also own Twinnings, we count that as quite an achievement. Our luckiest break on the catering supply side was to supply an espresso machine and coffee to the first Cafà © Rouge also around 1989. This company went on to expand to 120 sites nationally, acquired the Dome chain and instigated the idea of a restaurant being willing to sell a cup of coffee at any time of day. A bit like Barkers, the news in 1995 that Pelican Group was acquired by Whitbread, owners of Costa Coffee, came as a disappointment. Even then it took Costa three years to take the coffee and machine contract away from us. Another major customer is AMT Espresso Bars, established in Oxford around 1993, they had two coffee carts when we discovered the operation. Here were three brothers, passionate about their business and their coffee our coffee. Today with 43 bars nationally focussed in railway stations, there coffee sales are quite remarkable, though naturally confidential. All this brings us to the point. We have helped a number of high profile customers achieve consistent record sales of real coffee our real coffee, but nobody knows, nobody has even heard of Andronicas. (Our coffee produces over 50 million cups annually). We want to continue to develop the business as it is. Continue to sell, supply and develop coffee sales in all of these customers under their brand, but additionally and to different customers we want to sell our brand. The historic and existing business being the income stream to support the next opportunity, but which must remain the primary focus, i.e. the existing business can in no way be jeopardised by the plan for the Future. Our growth might well be limited by that fact, but there is always tomorrow. Our experience and strength are bound up in a passion for the product. From the grower and processor, we import only the finest beans, anybody can say it and they all seem to, even Kenko (part of Kraft Foods) but we have seen their factory and others like it. When you grind their coffee beans they look just like mine. Statistically the UK imports very little fine coffee, so somebody is lying. As always it comes down to money. Today I can buy Arabica coffee for  £1,000 per metric tonne. We actually pay around  £1,800 per tonne so naturally we get something much, much better. It really is that simple. We can only afford to pay more because our customers have the same view, they are willing to pay more because they in turn are saying the same to their customers and so it goes. Be it retail or catering pay more, get better, pay less, get worse. It will always be easy to drive down the price; always it will be pointless. So we have the best green beans, now we have to roast them. Our processing plant is equipped to roast coffee in batches of 1, 12, 60 and 120 kilos. This flexibility is of key strength, but more important than that, immediately after roasting, our coffee is securely packed, excluding all the oxygen immediately. This is only possible with state of the art valve packaging equipment. Whether nitrogen or vacuum packed removing the oxygen is critical to the aroma, taste and life of the coffee. NB you cannot vacuum real coffee twice, it only works when freshly roasted. The public does not understand this fact at all. The third critical ingredient to great coffee we will call the barista, the person who makes the coffee. If person one, the grower, person two, the roaster have not done their job, number three cannot win. However even when one and two have done their job correctly, number three can destroy it. So coffee the nectar of the gods, requires the skill resource and commitment of at least three people to achieve greatness. Given the consumption of coffee in just the UK alone exceeds 150 million cups per day, the scale of both the challenge and the opportunity can only be marvelled at. Andronicas core skill is in understanding the variables and bringing their expertise to endeavour to help the consumer make great coffee. Be it through bars serving it by the cup or at home made by a myriad of equipment from the simple French pot, the sophisticated Italian espresso machine, a German filter system, a Turkish pot or the elegant cafetiere. Going back to the bars, todays fashion is for espresso-based drinks and the machines used to do this form an important part of the companys business model. Espresso machines used extensively in every modern catering environment are a key opportunity to develop new business and a great opportunity to build long term customer relationships, through service, maintenance, training and lead to the identified opportunity here ‘ BRANDING. Traditionally a bar serving espresso purchases beans packed in kilo bags. This is emptied into a hopper feeding the grinder; the coffee is therefore nameless. In order to identify the brand at the point of sale, the outlet might well be given china cups that bear the brand of the coffee roaster. Our idea is to change the pack from bag to tin. Instead of emptying the bag of beans, a 2-kilo tin replaces the unbranded hopper. Vacuum packed at the factory this tin allows us to identify our brand at the point of sale. The additional supply of branded cups, china or paper, and other point of sale material, to get the message across at the time the product is being consumed. This should therefore be self-financing. Accepting that our brand is of no commercial value yet, the means to achieve the trade sale is to additionally personalise the 2 kilo caddy with the clients outlet brand. In other words Andronicas Coffee at †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Our desire then is to sell our coffee to a new group of trade customers where they are keen to sell the product as Andronicas Coffee. This in itself is not difficult. Coffee is a competitive market, our history, experience and resource make it a relatively straight-forward proposition. An investment in manpower, accessories to support the offer, the process is essentially similar to our current programme. Moving beyond this, the reason for creating the brand in the first place is to get back to our retail roots and to create value in Andronicas Coffee as a brand and therefore as a business. We have already indicated that access to market in the retail arena is through supermarkets, departments stores, speciality coffee retailers or mail order. Our view is the supermarkets are not an appropriate route for our company taking account of our existing customer base, our size and brand recognition. We are established in retail through department stores and therefore any activity to promote our coffee would be like shooting yourself in the foot. Speciality coffee retailers are unlikely to support our brand and are in any event a fragmented group, which brings us to mail order. Back-tracking a moment picture a coffee salesman visiting an espresso bar. His objective is to persuade the bar owner to change coffee suppliers. Having made that change and assuming everything the salesman says is true, one would have every reason to suppose that espresso bar owner would continue to purchase a case of espresso beans every week indefinitely. That is what Andronicas does, it persuades espresso bar owners it has great coffee, will not change the blend, will deliver consistently what they require, will not change the offer, price or any fundamental. Allowing him to offer his customer the same and build his business to such an extent he may open a second espresso bar. Who is he going to call? Picture if you would just for the exercise, a salesman in a car showroom. Imagine for a minute the different objectives of both these sales people. One wants a sale now, today. The other wants a sale indefinitely. They both come from the same place, they are both going somewhere entirely different. Now back to our retail opportunity. The consumer is a little like our espresso bar owner. They want great coffee, easily accessible, at good value for money, consistently. The supermarket fulfils that need extremely well. The only thing missing is the romance. There is no romance with supermarket coffee. We might all like the coffee specialist, but we dont have the time and there is no consistency. Mail order might be able to fulfil these objectives, but the cost of finding these potential customers would be excessive. However if the offer was good and met the requirements, it is conceivable such a person could purchase one 250g tin every week, for ever more.. Just like our espresso bar owner. Buying direct from the roaster, who is also the importer, is the romance. Operationally for us this is simple. The clever or difficult part is identifying those one in ten UK coffee drinkers who really do only drink real coffee at home. Events. Picture if you would any day out you have been on. A county show, a day at the races, museums, air shows, Henley, Wimbledon. We dont even expect a great coffee and we are still disappointed. Imagine being at one of these events and being served a great cup of coffee. Yes, it is possible. Might you think I wish I could get coffee like this at home. That is where we want to get to. Serving coffee in locations, the expectation is low, making a great drink and converting the customer to a mail order user. Difficult as it may be, the beauty of the idea is they are going to pay for the tasting and so building this opportunity should be self-financing and by focussing on this avenue to the consumer, we should not alienate our existing trade customer further we are establishing the brand recognition of Andronicas Coffee to his and our benefit. Andronicas world of coffee 4th floor Harrods Knightsbridge, is a concept Gourmet Coffee shop, where Term Freshly Roasted means just that. Here green coffee beans are roasted to customers specifications in the desired quantity. Having identified, what we consider the right ingredients for the perfect coffee shop, we are focused on the other locations where the concept would be appreciated. By Easter 2010 we will have opened Andronicas World of coffee at Covent Garden, Excel East and West, and Garden Park Peterborough.[5] Structure Of dissertation:- Developing a theoretical framework incorporating a number of ideas and findings relevant to understand the factors affecting Small medium enterprise entry barriers. In Chapter two a substantial body of literature is presented about different marketing strategies and branding models. In Chapter three, the methodology used in research concerned with entering market and brand development is presented. A qualitative research is proposed with the elaboration of focus groups. The use of a guide for the moderator was needed in order to help the researcher to put the research question in parallel with the topics to probe. Also the codification technique is used to organize the information later on. Finally, Chapter four presents the findings of this dissertation, giving an explanation of what the factors influencing the marketing strategies of any small medium enterprise. It also presents a comparison between the factors extracted from different authors and the ones found in this research evoking interesting potential directions for further research. Literature Review â€Å"Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and take a distant view of close things†[6] This chapter is based on brief explanation about how strategies are formed and how they are implemented for any organisation in order to become successful and survive. Strategy is one of the key elements and a major concern for any organisation for its survival in future. Here in this chapter we are trying to explain various theories and concepts that have been put forward. Why Strategy? â€Å"Like politics, strategy is the art of the possible; but few can discern what is possible†.[7] Strategy in terms of business means planning how to reach the objectives of the company and how the planning should be implemented. â€Å"Strategy is a the pattern of major objectives, purpose or goals and essential policies or plans for achieving those goals, stated in such a way as to define what business the company is in or is to be in and the kind of company it is or is to be† Andrews (1971). In simpler terms can be explained as â€Å"The strategy of the firm is the match between its internal capabilities and its external relationship. It describes how it responds to its suppliers, its customers, its competitors and the social and economic environment within it operates† Kay (1993). Andrews definition clearly identifies two different processes, formulation and implementation, and the interrelation between these two concepts. â€Å"Strategy as the determination of the basic long term goals and objectives of the enterprise and the adoption of the courses of action and allocation of resources necessary for carrying out those goals† Chandler (1962) Mainly strategy is maintained at three main levels in any organisation. Internal Resources: It means the capital and the investments in the business, employees and their skill sets are resources for the company. To make most of these resources a proper strategy needs to be implemented, and that helps organisations to make most of the resources and that helps to survive and stay in the market. External environment within which the organisation operates: Environment means every aspect external to the organisations. Its not only the economic and political situations but also competitors, customers and suppliers. Organisations need to develop strategies that are best suited to their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the environment in which they are operating. According to Mintzberg H (1987) Environment is so uncertain, particularly in global level, that it may be impossible to plan a long term strategy. This may need to be crafted, i.e. built up gradually through a learning process involving experimentation. Strategies need to be devised to cope with such difficulties The ability of the organisation to add value to what it is doing presently: To ensure long term survival an organisation must take the supplies it brings in, add value to these through its operation and then deliver its output to the customer. The purpose of the strategy is to bring about the conditions under which the organisation is able to create this vital additional value. The strategy that is formulated should also ensure that the organisation adapts the changing circumstances. Strategy of a business is in cooperation with art and a science. Particular strategy will not be appropriate for all the cases. Small and medium companies coming into existence has increased substantially over a period of time. Marketing situation is completely different in small to medium enterprise then larger corporations. Gilmore, Carson and Grant (2001) use the limitations for companies to explain the differences. The limitations are capital, time, marketing knowledge and limited impact on the market place. Marketing strategy in terms of small and medium firms is lot different than multinational and larger firms. According to Gilmore (2001) marketing is casual, amorphous, reflex, and is build in the lead and in compliance to industry norm. Small and medium sized organisations are a very diverse faction. The strength of the company does not decide the purpose and goals of the organisation. This wide range of Small medium organisations can be categorised hooked on three groups Child-, Dwarf- , and pygmy- companies Brytting(1998). This categorization is done on the foundation of organisations ambitions and potential of expansion. Child companies are undersized because they are newly taking place. These companies are on the rise, resolve with time and the right resources increase beyond their present size. Dwarf companies are small because of internal issues. A dwarf company is disabled with its undersized manpower. This type of business needs to develop or else reshuffle in order to be ready for action. Pygmy companies are small because that is most suitable size. Pygmy companies are small because they dont try to grow. They are cost-effective and economical in their current size. Growth is generally qualitative because organisational expansion is not attractive. According to Bryttings (1998) categories give three reasons to give explanation why a company is small. The company is small because it is a new entrant, some is wrong with in the organisation or, it is designed to be small. In marketing a niche brand is strong within its market division, but small in unconditional terms (Doyle 1990). Companies that come under this category can be highly cost-effective without a large share of the market. According to Doyle (1990) it is possible for a small or medium company to receive comparatively better returns on investment then ratio then rest of the market leaders. Bergvall (2001) explains the fact how small and medium sized companies can be successful in their own markets. A small company is more supple and are innovative as they are physically more closer to customers/ market (Bergvall 2001) .Smaller organisations are have a flatter structure in size, that makes decision making process simpler. In current management view, marketplace is captured by communication and exchange of assets involving network partners (Norman Ramirez1998). Drucker (1974), the honoured management guru said â€Å"doing things right,† or efficiently, could not save the company when it was not â€Å"doing the right things† Both operations and strategic management must be done well to be successful, to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. When the world is changing, managers need to share some common view in the new world. Otherwise, decentralized strategic decisions will result in management anarchy. Strategy has both pros and cons: Strategy sets trend: At present this statement has uniformly advantages and disadvantages. The key function of the strategy is to map the road of a business in order to find the approach cohesively all the way through the situation. But the drawback is that occasionally strategic decision can also serve as a set of blinders to hide potential dangers. Strategy focuses effort: Strategy tries to build and promotes team work in an organisation, lacking strategy it can happen that the employees start running in different directions. The drawback on this is faction arises when attempt is too carefully determined, that results in avoid Analysis of Strategies for Expansion into UK Analysis of Strategies for Expansion into UK Introduction Research Content:- Over the last few decades, there has been a tremendous growth in the volume of business. A number of new players have entered the business world and as a result there is fierce competition making survival very difficult. Therefore it is imperative that Companies establish a sustainable competitive advantage over other competitors. One key strategy that companies have often adopted to sustain in the long term is continuous growth to become recognised brand and dominant that they can set the agenda. Thus we see huge multi-national corporate in various sectors particularly in retail, food and beverages that are dominant and sometimes act as monopolies. However, pursuing a strategy of growth simply does not mean that corporate can expand their businesses, survive and remain successful. In the past, many organisations have adopted various strategies and implemented all of them but have failed. This is because like any other strategy, growth strategies must be carefully formulated and prop erly implemented. If not, there could be severe consequences. There are many organisations particularly in the UK that are aspiring to expand their presence. However, a number of huge western based multi-nationals exist that are dominant and follow entry deterrence strategies such as patents, limit pricing, cost advantages, aggressive advertising and marketing etc, in order to prevent other organisations from taking their market share or eroding their margins. We shall study in this dissertation, the growth strategies that such emerging organisations adopt and implement to capture the markets and also see how they encounter the indirect entry barriers imposed by the giant multi-nationals. Aims Objectives The Goal of this dissertation is: to analyse the various strategies that can be composed by an organisation and the ways that they should be implemented; to list the various possible outcomes that can be achieved by an organisation with proper planning and implementation of a strategy; to study the reasons why it is important for organisations to plan and have alternative strategies Even though many companies form strategies and implement them, not all of them may succeed. So, why do companies fail to achieve their objectives with the implemented strategies. The main purpose of this research would be based on Andronicas World Of Coffee (AWOC), the way they work on the strategies they plan and the implementation process to make it a success. A Study would be done on the problem that they have faced and are facing in the present and the past while implementing their Retail business strategies to become a recognized brand. The objective is to complete the study with all the required literature review and theory which relates to strategies formulation and implementation. Analyses the reasons, motives, process and other aspects related to strategies formulation and implementation. The main objective is to have a brief study on how Andronicas- world of coffee has planned its strategy and has implemented it, in order to enter highly competitive market of coffee chains and become a leading Retailer in UK. Analysis will also be done on the performance of this organisation and the growth achieved in short span of time. The objectives that we aim to explore are given below : To Examine the strategies formulated by Andronicas- World of Coffee for establishing their retail business within UK. To analyse the different steps and ideas they used and implemented for establishing their retail business in LONDON. To find out what Andronicas- World of Coffee was and what it is now after the implementation of its formulated strategy. To study the impact of ongoing Financial crisis on Andronicas as a business. Purpose of Study:- The fast growing competition in business market has raised the need for new markets. This has inspired many small organisations to grow and provided opportunities, for which various strategy needs to be formulated. The purpose of research is on what field a company needs to concentrate and what strategy it should apply in order to enter the highly competitive market. The implementation plans of company play a vital role. Even though strategies are planned well but some companies fail during the implementation process, this is because of improper communication/ short term plans. The implementation process needs to be monitored very carefully. The purpose of the study is to identify the strategies that organisations plan and the way they try to implement it. The main aim of this study is to describe a method that can be adopted by Small medium enterprise to enter a highly competitive market that is already dominated by big market players with the Example of Andronicas -World of Coffee. Managers and leaders of companies are constantly involved into decision-making. They use different types of strategy to ensure that their business not only survives but brings profit. . Strategic ideas are relevant for all types of organization, and many of the key issues are the same although they may differ in their relative significance. All businesses in the competitive environment are affected by strategy and strategic issues if not their own, then those of the competition or the external environment[2]. Long-term strategic success requires coordination of the managers efforts and effective structure of the managerial department of the company. Introduction to the Industry Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical Jonathan Swift, 1722 Possibly the cradle of mankind, the ancient land of Abyssinia, now know as Ethiopia, is the place where coffee was born. In todays world beverages sector comprising of coffee as a sub sector is one of the key segments of the economy having extensive and forward and backward linkages with other key segments of the economy. According to the latest coffee statistics from the International Coffee Organization (ICO), we pour about 1.4 billion cups of coffee a day worldwide. In fact when we look at per capita coffee consumption, the U.K. is #22 on the list with about 5 kilograms of coffee per person per year[3]. The coffee industry has grown rapidly since the 1990s; before Starbucks emerged, people were used to drinking low quality coffee from tins. Starbucks introduced fresh coffee made from top quality beans that have excellent taste and drinks such as the caffe latte and cappuccino, which have helped to fuel the development of the coffee market into a multi million pound industry. The size of UK branded coffee chains have quadrupled from 1999 to 2004, with a current market turnover of over  £1 billion. However, Britains coffee may finally be taking a new direction. Take a walk through London and youll see a rash of trendy independent coffee houses, with blackboards boasting of freshly roasted, Fair Trade beans and organic milk. Retail sales at specialist coffee shops reached  £1 billion for the first time in 2007 and were almost  £1.2 billion in 2008. High street chains such as Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero are also performing well, with 890 new branches of branded coffee shops expected to open before 2012, but they are upping their game to meet our rising expectations. Jeffrey Young, of the consumer analysts Allegra Strategies, says: â€Å"Were seeing a movement to a stronger coffee palate. People say that their Starbucks is not strong enough, that Nero is stronger than their Costa. Thats something that no one was talking about ten years ago. There has been a massive revolution in coffee drinking, from drinking instant or filtered in a polystyrene cup a decade ago to espresso-based drinks made from 100 per cent Arabica beans today.† UK being an upcoming market for coffee shops, with an estimation of more than 11000 outlets opened so far and number still increasing. The total turnover of the whole coffee industry is estimated to be over  £1.63 billion for year 2009.[4] Estimations for year 2010 are expected more than 13000 coffee shops, including small, medium and independent businesses Introduction to Andronicas World of Coffee (Source: Andrew Knight) Form of Ownership: -Andronicas Coffee is a private limited company whose entire share capital is under the control and ownership of Andrew Knight. Andronicas Coffee a coffee roaster/ supplier vertically integrated, accessing green coffee at source, roasting and processing through to the point of sale, via either catering or retail industries and including the equipment required to produce the finished drink. With a 25year history of selling, serving and operating retail outlets, adopting the best of both the Seattle and European model. Focused now on trade sales identifying customers whose ideals of quality, taste and service, expectation are at the top end of the market and who see outlet expansion as the driver for their business. Promotion of our brand identity is important but secondary to the overall success and profitable growth of our business. To develop staff skills and competence to recruit to fill any gaps and to take the opportunity forward, always keeping in mind the potential property opportunity as it arises and being in a position to take it up. Maintaining our commitment to re-invest each year across marketing , new plant, product development and if appropriate acquisition i.e. office coffee service. Not to lose sight of what we have in the pursuit of what we want. Strive to do what we do better always. The company commenced business as a retailer of real coffee in the Kensington department store, Barkers in 1979. The addition of a tasting facility lead to our first conflict the restaurant manager unhappy that we should be offering a free tasting to his potential customers as they walked through the door resulted in some initial difficulty. The compromise reached with the store manager was that we could charge for our sample. This led us to operating one of the first espresso bars in London. It was popular with both the store and customers in equal measure, was extremely profitable, our rent being based on a percentage of sales and led directly to the opportunity to replicate the model at a second House of Fraser store in Londons Victoria, just 18 months after the Kensington store opened. At this time we had installed a small coffee roasting machine. This brought a multiple benefit; vertical integration, aroma at the point of sale, credibility and increased profit. When House of Fraser invited us to open a third site at Rackhams of Birmingham, it was at the banks suggestion that we should try for our own site. This led to acquiring a lease at 15 St Johns Wood High Street in 1983. We had by this time embarked on the wholesale side of coffee supply to local restaurants and with the acquisition of the lease at St Johns Wood installed a 25 kilo professional coffee roasting machine in order to become self sufficient with our coffee. We considered franchising as a possible means of further expansion. The St Johns Wood shop was the ideal coffee shop model; a catering led operation, roasting on-site, front and rear access and space for an office. By now the coffee shop offer was growing to include a lunch-time dish of the day. It was around 1988, we received the disappointing news, Barkers was to be redeveloped and all concessions were given 6 months notice to quit. Certainly this was a rude awakening, how quickly 6 months goes. So we acquired the lease of another shop nearby in Kensington Court and then had four sites, all trading in profit, each slightly different. Just as we had spare space in St Johns Wood, so too a basement in Kensington allowed for the acquisition of a proper factory packing machine, allowed us more control, independence and profitability. As we assessed a way forward at that time, the expansion of the wholesale side of the business appealed more and our view that department stores, not delicatessen shops were the place to sell real coffee to the consumer, that led us to target Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum and Mason and Harvey Nichols. In order to access funds to finance a production facility, we had to sell the lease on one of the two London shops. The first offer was for St Johns Wood, so that sale allowed us the opportunity to put a production facility in place in a railway arch in Camberwell. The successful conclusion of the contract to supply all Harrods retail coffee resulted in the need to acquire plant machinery, printing and packaging which quickly burnt through the  £120,000 that was paid for St Johns Wood and forced the sale of the Kensington shop to give us sufficient cash flow. (The Kensington shop sale was another fascinating lesson in small business management, but not terribly relevant to this). Suffice to say, the timing of the sale was perfect and ultimately led to the opportunity to acquire the freehold of Great Eastern Street. Having successfully become the supplier to Harrods, we added the exclusive supply of coffee by catering and retail to Harvey Nichols (that was juggling) and Selfridges. Today even fifteen years later, we are still in that happy position and whilst we only supply a few fringe coffee beans to Fortnum Mason, as the family owning the store also own Twinnings, we count that as quite an achievement. Our luckiest break on the catering supply side was to supply an espresso machine and coffee to the first Cafà © Rouge also around 1989. This company went on to expand to 120 sites nationally, acquired the Dome chain and instigated the idea of a restaurant being willing to sell a cup of coffee at any time of day. A bit like Barkers, the news in 1995 that Pelican Group was acquired by Whitbread, owners of Costa Coffee, came as a disappointment. Even then it took Costa three years to take the coffee and machine contract away from us. Another major customer is AMT Espresso Bars, established in Oxford around 1993, they had two coffee carts when we discovered the operation. Here were three brothers, passionate about their business and their coffee our coffee. Today with 43 bars nationally focussed in railway stations, there coffee sales are quite remarkable, though naturally confidential. All this brings us to the point. We have helped a number of high profile customers achieve consistent record sales of real coffee our real coffee, but nobody knows, nobody has even heard of Andronicas. (Our coffee produces over 50 million cups annually). We want to continue to develop the business as it is. Continue to sell, supply and develop coffee sales in all of these customers under their brand, but additionally and to different customers we want to sell our brand. The historic and existing business being the income stream to support the next opportunity, but which must remain the primary focus, i.e. the existing business can in no way be jeopardised by the plan for the Future. Our growth might well be limited by that fact, but there is always tomorrow. Our experience and strength are bound up in a passion for the product. From the grower and processor, we import only the finest beans, anybody can say it and they all seem to, even Kenko (part of Kraft Foods) but we have seen their factory and others like it. When you grind their coffee beans they look just like mine. Statistically the UK imports very little fine coffee, so somebody is lying. As always it comes down to money. Today I can buy Arabica coffee for  £1,000 per metric tonne. We actually pay around  £1,800 per tonne so naturally we get something much, much better. It really is that simple. We can only afford to pay more because our customers have the same view, they are willing to pay more because they in turn are saying the same to their customers and so it goes. Be it retail or catering pay more, get better, pay less, get worse. It will always be easy to drive down the price; always it will be pointless. So we have the best green beans, now we have to roast them. Our processing plant is equipped to roast coffee in batches of 1, 12, 60 and 120 kilos. This flexibility is of key strength, but more important than that, immediately after roasting, our coffee is securely packed, excluding all the oxygen immediately. This is only possible with state of the art valve packaging equipment. Whether nitrogen or vacuum packed removing the oxygen is critical to the aroma, taste and life of the coffee. NB you cannot vacuum real coffee twice, it only works when freshly roasted. The public does not understand this fact at all. The third critical ingredient to great coffee we will call the barista, the person who makes the coffee. If person one, the grower, person two, the roaster have not done their job, number three cannot win. However even when one and two have done their job correctly, number three can destroy it. So coffee the nectar of the gods, requires the skill resource and commitment of at least three people to achieve greatness. Given the consumption of coffee in just the UK alone exceeds 150 million cups per day, the scale of both the challenge and the opportunity can only be marvelled at. Andronicas core skill is in understanding the variables and bringing their expertise to endeavour to help the consumer make great coffee. Be it through bars serving it by the cup or at home made by a myriad of equipment from the simple French pot, the sophisticated Italian espresso machine, a German filter system, a Turkish pot or the elegant cafetiere. Going back to the bars, todays fashion is for espresso-based drinks and the machines used to do this form an important part of the companys business model. Espresso machines used extensively in every modern catering environment are a key opportunity to develop new business and a great opportunity to build long term customer relationships, through service, maintenance, training and lead to the identified opportunity here ‘ BRANDING. Traditionally a bar serving espresso purchases beans packed in kilo bags. This is emptied into a hopper feeding the grinder; the coffee is therefore nameless. In order to identify the brand at the point of sale, the outlet might well be given china cups that bear the brand of the coffee roaster. Our idea is to change the pack from bag to tin. Instead of emptying the bag of beans, a 2-kilo tin replaces the unbranded hopper. Vacuum packed at the factory this tin allows us to identify our brand at the point of sale. The additional supply of branded cups, china or paper, and other point of sale material, to get the message across at the time the product is being consumed. This should therefore be self-financing. Accepting that our brand is of no commercial value yet, the means to achieve the trade sale is to additionally personalise the 2 kilo caddy with the clients outlet brand. In other words Andronicas Coffee at †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Our desire then is to sell our coffee to a new group of trade customers where they are keen to sell the product as Andronicas Coffee. This in itself is not difficult. Coffee is a competitive market, our history, experience and resource make it a relatively straight-forward proposition. An investment in manpower, accessories to support the offer, the process is essentially similar to our current programme. Moving beyond this, the reason for creating the brand in the first place is to get back to our retail roots and to create value in Andronicas Coffee as a brand and therefore as a business. We have already indicated that access to market in the retail arena is through supermarkets, departments stores, speciality coffee retailers or mail order. Our view is the supermarkets are not an appropriate route for our company taking account of our existing customer base, our size and brand recognition. We are established in retail through department stores and therefore any activity to promote our coffee would be like shooting yourself in the foot. Speciality coffee retailers are unlikely to support our brand and are in any event a fragmented group, which brings us to mail order. Back-tracking a moment picture a coffee salesman visiting an espresso bar. His objective is to persuade the bar owner to change coffee suppliers. Having made that change and assuming everything the salesman says is true, one would have every reason to suppose that espresso bar owner would continue to purchase a case of espresso beans every week indefinitely. That is what Andronicas does, it persuades espresso bar owners it has great coffee, will not change the blend, will deliver consistently what they require, will not change the offer, price or any fundamental. Allowing him to offer his customer the same and build his business to such an extent he may open a second espresso bar. Who is he going to call? Picture if you would just for the exercise, a salesman in a car showroom. Imagine for a minute the different objectives of both these sales people. One wants a sale now, today. The other wants a sale indefinitely. They both come from the same place, they are both going somewhere entirely different. Now back to our retail opportunity. The consumer is a little like our espresso bar owner. They want great coffee, easily accessible, at good value for money, consistently. The supermarket fulfils that need extremely well. The only thing missing is the romance. There is no romance with supermarket coffee. We might all like the coffee specialist, but we dont have the time and there is no consistency. Mail order might be able to fulfil these objectives, but the cost of finding these potential customers would be excessive. However if the offer was good and met the requirements, it is conceivable such a person could purchase one 250g tin every week, for ever more.. Just like our espresso bar owner. Buying direct from the roaster, who is also the importer, is the romance. Operationally for us this is simple. The clever or difficult part is identifying those one in ten UK coffee drinkers who really do only drink real coffee at home. Events. Picture if you would any day out you have been on. A county show, a day at the races, museums, air shows, Henley, Wimbledon. We dont even expect a great coffee and we are still disappointed. Imagine being at one of these events and being served a great cup of coffee. Yes, it is possible. Might you think I wish I could get coffee like this at home. That is where we want to get to. Serving coffee in locations, the expectation is low, making a great drink and converting the customer to a mail order user. Difficult as it may be, the beauty of the idea is they are going to pay for the tasting and so building this opportunity should be self-financing and by focussing on this avenue to the consumer, we should not alienate our existing trade customer further we are establishing the brand recognition of Andronicas Coffee to his and our benefit. Andronicas world of coffee 4th floor Harrods Knightsbridge, is a concept Gourmet Coffee shop, where Term Freshly Roasted means just that. Here green coffee beans are roasted to customers specifications in the desired quantity. Having identified, what we consider the right ingredients for the perfect coffee shop, we are focused on the other locations where the concept would be appreciated. By Easter 2010 we will have opened Andronicas World of coffee at Covent Garden, Excel East and West, and Garden Park Peterborough.[5] Structure Of dissertation:- Developing a theoretical framework incorporating a number of ideas and findings relevant to understand the factors affecting Small medium enterprise entry barriers. In Chapter two a substantial body of literature is presented about different marketing strategies and branding models. In Chapter three, the methodology used in research concerned with entering market and brand development is presented. A qualitative research is proposed with the elaboration of focus groups. The use of a guide for the moderator was needed in order to help the researcher to put the research question in parallel with the topics to probe. Also the codification technique is used to organize the information later on. Finally, Chapter four presents the findings of this dissertation, giving an explanation of what the factors influencing the marketing strategies of any small medium enterprise. It also presents a comparison between the factors extracted from different authors and the ones found in this research evoking interesting potential directions for further research. Literature Review â€Å"Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and take a distant view of close things†[6] This chapter is based on brief explanation about how strategies are formed and how they are implemented for any organisation in order to become successful and survive. Strategy is one of the key elements and a major concern for any organisation for its survival in future. Here in this chapter we are trying to explain various theories and concepts that have been put forward. Why Strategy? â€Å"Like politics, strategy is the art of the possible; but few can discern what is possible†.[7] Strategy in terms of business means planning how to reach the objectives of the company and how the planning should be implemented. â€Å"Strategy is a the pattern of major objectives, purpose or goals and essential policies or plans for achieving those goals, stated in such a way as to define what business the company is in or is to be in and the kind of company it is or is to be† Andrews (1971). In simpler terms can be explained as â€Å"The strategy of the firm is the match between its internal capabilities and its external relationship. It describes how it responds to its suppliers, its customers, its competitors and the social and economic environment within it operates† Kay (1993). Andrews definition clearly identifies two different processes, formulation and implementation, and the interrelation between these two concepts. â€Å"Strategy as the determination of the basic long term goals and objectives of the enterprise and the adoption of the courses of action and allocation of resources necessary for carrying out those goals† Chandler (1962) Mainly strategy is maintained at three main levels in any organisation. Internal Resources: It means the capital and the investments in the business, employees and their skill sets are resources for the company. To make most of these resources a proper strategy needs to be implemented, and that helps organisations to make most of the resources and that helps to survive and stay in the market. External environment within which the organisation operates: Environment means every aspect external to the organisations. Its not only the economic and political situations but also competitors, customers and suppliers. Organisations need to develop strategies that are best suited to their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the environment in which they are operating. According to Mintzberg H (1987) Environment is so uncertain, particularly in global level, that it may be impossible to plan a long term strategy. This may need to be crafted, i.e. built up gradually through a learning process involving experimentation. Strategies need to be devised to cope with such difficulties The ability of the organisation to add value to what it is doing presently: To ensure long term survival an organisation must take the supplies it brings in, add value to these through its operation and then deliver its output to the customer. The purpose of the strategy is to bring about the conditions under which the organisation is able to create this vital additional value. The strategy that is formulated should also ensure that the organisation adapts the changing circumstances. Strategy of a business is in cooperation with art and a science. Particular strategy will not be appropriate for all the cases. Small and medium companies coming into existence has increased substantially over a period of time. Marketing situation is completely different in small to medium enterprise then larger corporations. Gilmore, Carson and Grant (2001) use the limitations for companies to explain the differences. The limitations are capital, time, marketing knowledge and limited impact on the market place. Marketing strategy in terms of small and medium firms is lot different than multinational and larger firms. According to Gilmore (2001) marketing is casual, amorphous, reflex, and is build in the lead and in compliance to industry norm. Small and medium sized organisations are a very diverse faction. The strength of the company does not decide the purpose and goals of the organisation. This wide range of Small medium organisations can be categorised hooked on three groups Child-, Dwarf- , and pygmy- companies Brytting(1998). This categorization is done on the foundation of organisations ambitions and potential of expansion. Child companies are undersized because they are newly taking place. These companies are on the rise, resolve with time and the right resources increase beyond their present size. Dwarf companies are small because of internal issues. A dwarf company is disabled with its undersized manpower. This type of business needs to develop or else reshuffle in order to be ready for action. Pygmy companies are small because that is most suitable size. Pygmy companies are small because they dont try to grow. They are cost-effective and economical in their current size. Growth is generally qualitative because organisational expansion is not attractive. According to Bryttings (1998) categories give three reasons to give explanation why a company is small. The company is small because it is a new entrant, some is wrong with in the organisation or, it is designed to be small. In marketing a niche brand is strong within its market division, but small in unconditional terms (Doyle 1990). Companies that come under this category can be highly cost-effective without a large share of the market. According to Doyle (1990) it is possible for a small or medium company to receive comparatively better returns on investment then ratio then rest of the market leaders. Bergvall (2001) explains the fact how small and medium sized companies can be successful in their own markets. A small company is more supple and are innovative as they are physically more closer to customers/ market (Bergvall 2001) .Smaller organisations are have a flatter structure in size, that makes decision making process simpler. In current management view, marketplace is captured by communication and exchange of assets involving network partners (Norman Ramirez1998). Drucker (1974), the honoured management guru said â€Å"doing things right,† or efficiently, could not save the company when it was not â€Å"doing the right things† Both operations and strategic management must be done well to be successful, to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. When the world is changing, managers need to share some common view in the new world. Otherwise, decentralized strategic decisions will result in management anarchy. Strategy has both pros and cons: Strategy sets trend: At present this statement has uniformly advantages and disadvantages. The key function of the strategy is to map the road of a business in order to find the approach cohesively all the way through the situation. But the drawback is that occasionally strategic decision can also serve as a set of blinders to hide potential dangers. Strategy focuses effort: Strategy tries to build and promotes team work in an organisation, lacking strategy it can happen that the employees start running in different directions. The drawback on this is faction arises when attempt is too carefully determined, that results in avoid

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Trustworthy Computing Continues to Build Momentum The third year of Microsoft’s long-term commitment saw progress in technology investments, industry leadership and customer guidance. REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 13, 2005 -- Scott Charney wants people to think of using their computer in the same way they think of using their telephone. Scott Charney, vice president, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft Corp. Not that Charney, vice president of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, is trying to advocate voice over other communication choices. Rather, he points out that people will walk up to almost any telephone, pick up the receiver and take for granted that they will get a dial tone. Even though the phone system occasionally fails, people are still confident that they will get a dial tone, their call will be completed, and their conversation will be secure and private. Charney wants people to think about computers in the same way. And that is why Microsoft is full steam ahead on its Trustworthy Computing initiative, which marks three years of progress on January 15. Launched by an internal memo from Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates in 2002, Trustworthy Computing is a long-term effort to create and deliver secure, private, and reliable computing experiences for everyone. Charney says Microsoft made significant progress in Trustworthy Computing's third year, progress reflected in its technology investments, industry leadership and customer guidance. Even so, he says, Microsoft recognizes there is a long way to go. "Remember that the telephone evolved over several decades to reach today's level of trust; party lines were hardly secure or private," he says. "Computers have reached global ubiquity in only 20 years, but the industry is still maturing, and reliability, security and privacy -- the things that create trust -- are still improving. People recognize the value of computing, but many people still wonder if something bad will happen when they are using their personal computer. "Trust in computing is critical if technology is to deliver on its promise. Microsoft's leadership will hopefully help the industry generate that trust sooner rather than later." Technology Investment and Innovation Trustworthy Online Microsoft offers numerous sites with information, tips and guidance for users, both corporate and consumer, in support of its Trustworthy Computing initiative. These include: Trustworthy Computing: Complete details about this long-term initiative. Security and Privacy Customer Assistance: More detailed information on how to deal with common security and privacy problems. Security and Privacy reference materials: Microsoft Press publishes an extensive selection of books on computer security, privacy and safety issues.

Woman and Canadian Politics

Prior to 1921, men were the only members of the Canadian parliamentary system. With the first Canadian women being elected into the Canadian parliament in 1921, women have had the ability to participate and become elected into the House of Commons. Since then, Canadian women’s participation in the House of Commons has substantially increased from 1 female seat holder in 1921 to the present day 64 seats held by women. Although this increase is seemed as substantial, the debate about the underrepresentation of women in politics has been a central topic of debate by politicians, scholars and the general public in Canada. Although it is widely agreed that representation of women in the House of Commons needs to increase, there are two fundamentally different views regarding this underrepresentation; the explanatory perspective and the feminist perspective. The explanatory perspective argues that â€Å"political institutions should reflect the composition of civil society† , while the feminists perspective argues that, â€Å"since women offer unique perspectives, their exclusion from political power means that their needs, demands, and interests would currently not be echoed in the political arena. However, through the assessment of the definition of democracy, and the evaluation of the feminist’s arguments and explanatory perspectives, the relatively low number of women elected to the House of Commons does not mean the Canadian political system is insufficiently democratic. In order to understand the underrepresentation of women in the Canadian political system, democracy must be define d. According to Rand Dyke, the definition of democracy is, â€Å"a political system characterized by popular sovereignty, political equality, political freedom, and majority rule. Popular sovereignty and political equality entails that everyone eligible to vote has: a vote to participate in a final outcome, and an equal weighted vote. Political freedom involves equal opportunities and rights to all. Majority rule entails that when it comes to making a decision regarding differences in opinions, the larger number should win. Therefore, democracy suggests that there should be representation for all genders and race, everyone should enjoy the equal opportunities, and everyone has an equal say when it comes to choosing their representatives. Firstly, women hold approximately 20. 8 percent of the House of Commons in Canada. Although this is an underrepresentation of the women population in Canada, it is not undemocratic. Based on the definition of democracy as defined above, it is argued, and has been proven through the election of women into the House of Commons, that women have equal opportunity to become a member in the House of Commons. Out of the Canadian population of eligible voters, women approximately make up more then 50 percent of that population. With women holding the majority of the votes in Canada, and an equal vote, it is puzzling that there are complaints regarding unfair representation. The fact that women have equal right to men shows that the Canadian political system is democratic. Perhaps the underrepresentation is not due to flaws in Canadian democracy regarding electing females to the House of Commons, but individual wants regarding representation. Women’s traditional role in society has been to stay home and take care of children as they are seen as nurturing creatures. The ways politicians have been portrayed through the media are ruthless and powerful people. The portrayal of traditional roles of women verse politicians may be part of the reason the general public does not elect more into the House of Commons. Perhaps if women involved in politics became more involved with the media, to prove their authoritativeness, the general population would be more inclined to elect strong-willed, assertive women into the House of Commons. Secondly, feminists have argued that females vying for political nomination face challenges finding monetary support for their nomination and campaigns. Although women face this difficulty, men do as well. To accommodate the financial difficulty of competing nominees the 1974 Election Expenses Act was implemented, and in 2004 Bill C-24. The 1974 Election Expenses Act introduced restrictions to the amount that candidates and parties could spend on elections, as well as gave tax deductions to sponsors, and partial reimbursement to parties and candidates wining more than 15 percent of the vote. Bill C-24 introduced restrictions once again on sponsorship spending placing boundaries on who can sponsor and caps on how much can be sponsored, while giving parties subsidies for each vote they received in the last election. By placing these restrictions and caps on spending, the competition in the financial field became less of an issue. The facts that these barriers have been acknowledged and attempts have been made remedy these burdens, not only benefited women’s likelihood to get nominated, but made competing playing field equal. Candidates who did not find finance as a burden were restricted to a cap, therefore made it more likely that all candidates would have around the same amount of money to spend on their promotion. Both men and women have to go through the same nomination process to become a candidate for elections; whether they choose to pursue the legislative route is based on personal choice, not political inequality. Thirdly, feminists are concerned that the small numbers of women in the House of Commons means that women’s interests and needs are not being represented. However, this can be proven false through the fact that for a long time the Canadian politics has mostly been based on the brokerage system. The brokerage system theory suggests that since Canada has such a diverse population, in order for political parties to win elections, they must appeal to the masses. Since Canada follows the brokerage system, it is suggested that everyone will receive representation in the Government because political parties have compromised in order to gain their support. One of the ways the Canadian political parties have gained more support by women was by bringing more into their party. Since 1921 women candidates in parties have increased from 4 female candidates to present day 380 female candidates. The increase shows that parties are accepting women in as candidates, in hopes to better accommodate women’s wants and needs; however, the general population is not voting them in. Not only does it allow from more female candidates, but it makes it easier for Feminists to belong to a political party. However, more feminists in the House of Commons may not be the best strategy for meeting needs, demands and interests of women. Women rather vote for â€Å"women as women† rather then feminists. Finally, although the underrepresentation of women in the House of Commons does not mean that the Canadian political system is insufficiently democratic, it does need to be improved. Some solutions suggested to improve this underrepresentation is to look at the how seats get distributed, quotas, and greater promotion for women in politics. Canada bases their government off of single member plurality. Single member plurality means that the candidate that wins the most votes wins a seat in the House of Commons no matter how marginal their victory is. This â€Å"first-past-the-post† technique leaves parties completely unrepresented, including women, when there is support for them. A suggestion to remedy underrepresentation is to implement a mixed member system. A mixed member would entail that a portion of the seats in the House of Commons is elected by the â€Å"first-past-the-post† system, and the remainder of the seats are chosen based on proportional representation. Another suggestion is to place quotas on parties as to a specific percentage of women must be elected. Countries such as Costa Rica, Argentina and Belgium have legal quotas as to percentage of women elected. A further suggestion would be to create greater publicity to promote women’s involvement in politics. Promoting interest in politics may trigger more women to get involved in politics, therefore possibly increasing the number of female candidates. Through some of these suggestions, female representation in the House of Commons may increase; however, this will take time. Underrepresentation of women in the House of Commons is a problem in the Canadian political system which does need to be addressed and remedied. However, this issue did not result because Canada’s politic system is undemocratic. Through the dissection of the definition of democracy, it was proven that both women and men are equally liable to be elected into the House of Commons. Through the assessment of the feminist argument that women have greater monetary burdens, it was proven that competition for nomination and candidacy has been regulated through Bill C-24 and the Election Expenses Act to assure expense equality. And the fact that the Canadian government has been based on the brokerage theory system suggests that political parties would want women to be elected therefore making their party more appealing to the masses. Although the number of women in the House of Commons has grown significantly, females are still underrepresented due to then general public’s decision not due to undemocratic functioning’s. Steps need to be taken to increase female interest in politics and the single member plurality system needs to be re-assessed to make female representation in the House of Commons more representative of its population. Bibliography Cool, Julie. Women in Parliament. [cited 1 November 2006] Available from http://dsp-psd. pwgsc. gc. ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/PRB-e/PRB0562-e. pdf Dyck, Rand. Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches. th ed. Scarborough: Nelson, 2004. Government of Canada. Population by Age and Sex Group. [cited 1 November 2006] Available from http://www40. statcan. ca/l01/cst01/demo10a. htm Heard, Andrew. Elections: Women Candidates in Canadian Elections 1921 – 2006. [cited 1 November 2006] Available from http://www. sfu. ca/~aheard/elections/women-elected. html Trembla y, Manon. â€Å"Do Female MPs Substantively Represent Women? A Study of Legislative Behaviour in Canada's 35th Parliament. † Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique 31, no. 3 (1998): 435-465. Tremblay, Manon, and Rejean Pelletier. â€Å"More Feminists Or More Women? Descriptive and Substantive Representations of Women in the 1997 Canadian Federal Elections. † International Political Science Review / Revue internationale de science politique 21, no. 4, Women, Citizenship, and Representation. Femmes, citoyennete et representation (2000): 381-405. Young, Lisa. â€Å"Fulfilling the Mandate of Difference: Women in the Canadian House of Commons. † In the Presence of Women: Representation in Canadian Government. Ed. Jane Arscott, Linda Trimble. Toronto: Harcourt Brace & Company Canada Ltd, 1997.

Intelligent Campus Using Rfid

chapter 1 introduction 1. 1GENERAL With the increasing denial of time and space the RFID technology is gaining momentum day by day. RFID is a source of identification of individuals and unique products. The budding technology RFID proves to threaten even the cloning technique, through the chip insertion. New ways of improving the existing RFID technology are being found and implemented. This advancement of RFID technology is looked beyond the security purposes. 1. 2 PRESENT SCENARIO Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a general term that is used to describe a system that transmits the identity (in the form of unique serial number) of an object wirelessly, using radio waves. RFID technologies are grouped under the more generic Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC). The RFID technology is used only in security, tagging goods, inventory purposes. Since the RFID technology is not well established in India, the introduction of new methodology in the field of RFID will indeed enhance the use of RFID technology in various areas of science and technology. . 3 PROBLEM An individual should be allocated to maintain registers in all places and appointment of staffs for coordinating with students in all occasions. The ID card can be duplicated even thought it has some other advancement which will be used in rare occasions. 1. 4 SOLUTION The best solution to the above problem is to develop a single RFID tag that can be used inside the college campus. Each and every RFID tag holds a particular number and it is integrated with the id cards of each and every individuals. The RFID tag reader can be fixed anywhere in campus and it is used to collect the information about the tag location. The collected data can be sent to centralized server to handle that information. Another added advantage is that the ID cards can’t be duplicated. This has several advantages and it is a time saving one for the institution, students and staff members. 1. 5 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIRED The hardware required is: 1) Personal computer. 2) RS 232. 3) Reader. 4) Power supply unit. 5) IR transmitter and receiver pair. 6) Buzzer. 7) LCD. 8) Tags. The software required is: 1) AVR studio 3. 5. 2) Visual studio 6. 0. 1. 6 BLOCK DIAGRAM Figure 1. 1 block diagram of intelligent campus using RFID CHAPTER 2 RFID system 2. 1 INTRODUCTION Radio Frequency Identification or RFID refers to the set of technologies that use radio waves for identifying objects or people. The RFID system is used to identify individual objects or things in the environment which can be monitored through use of wireless technology. RFID is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to remotely store and retrieve data. In other words, it is a combined term with RF and ID where RF means a wireless communication technology and ID means identification information of tag. So it is said that RFID is theoretically a wireless networking technology to transmit identification information stored at an electronic memory space. 2. 2 COMPONENTS OF RFID SYSTEM: ? An RFID device (transponder or tag), that contains data about an item. ? An antenna used to transmit the RF signals between the reader and the RFID devices. ? An RF transceiver that generates the RF signals. A reader that receives RF transmissions from an RFID device and passes the data to the host system for processing. Figure 2. 1: RFID SYSTEM 2. 3 GENERIC RFID TAG ARCHITECTURE The tag contains circuit to both rectify DC power from the incoming RF signal as well as to detect and extract the information modulated on the signal. The antenna load is a controlled resistance that changes the impedance of the dipole, enabling the backscatter. The tag IC is mounted on a carrier known as a strap and subsequently bonded to the antenna to form the fully assembled tag. The chip itself is very small, enabled by modem CMOS technology. The mounting of the die on a carrier has been made very inexpensive and capable of large volume by either flip-flop or by other innovative technique such as the Alien Technologies Fluidic self Assembly process. [pic] Figure 2. 2: Basic Tag IC Architecture 2. 4 Components of a tag The major components of the tag are 1) Microchip. 2) Antenna. 2. 4. 1 Microchip Microchip is electronic equipment consisting of a small crystal of silicon semiconductor fabricated to carry out a number of electronic functions in an integrated circuit. The microchip used in a HF tag is a contact less read/ write passive RFID device that is optimized for 13. 56 MHz RF carrier signal. The device needs an external LC resonant circuit for wireless communication with the interrogator. The device is powered remotely by rectifying an RF signal that is transmitted from the interrogator and transmits or updates its contents from memory-based on commands from interrogator. 2. 4. 2 Antenna The antenna emits the radio signal to activate the tag and reading and writing data to it. Antennas are the conduits between the tag and the transceiver, which controls the system data acquisition and communication. Antennas are available in a variety of shapes and sizes; they can be built in a door frame to receive tag data from persons or things. The electromagnetic field produced by an antenna can be constantly present when multiple tags are expected continuously. If constant interrogation is not required, the field can be activated by the sensor device. 2. 5 rfid readers RFID reader is like any other device that can be connected to a PC Or might be in built like an external or internal modem. The RFID reader can be powered by a power source using an adapter †Reader† or †Interrogator†, a device that is able to locate and activate tags so that the information that has been programmed onto the tag is transmitted back to the reader and subsequently to interface computing systems. The information that is received by the reader is then passed to the backend computing system to initiate the events, transactions, workflows, etc. Not only do reader locate activate and receive transmissions from RFID tags, a reader has the ability of sending data back to read/write capable tag in order to append or replace data. Readers exist that can also scan bar codes in environments where both bar codes and RFID are used. 2. 6 COMPONENTS OF A READER The reader has the following main components: ? Transmitter and Receiver ? Microprocessor ? Memory ? I/O channels for external sensors, actuators and annunciators ? Controller ? Communication interface ? Power. [pic] Figure 2. 3: BLOCK diagram of a reader 2. 6. 1 TRANSMITTER The reader’s transmitter is used to transmit AC power and the clock cycle via antennas to the tags in its read zone. This is part of the transceiver unit, the component responsible for sending the reader signal to the surrounding environment and receiving tag responses back via the reader antennas. The antenna ports of reader are connecting to its transceiver component. One reader antenna can be attached to each such antenna port. Receiver receives analog signals from the tag via the reader antenna. It then sends the signals to reader microprocessor, where it is converted to its equivalent digital form. 2. 6. 2 MICROPROCESSOR This component is responsible for implementing the reader protocol to communicate with compatible tags. It performs decoding and error checking of the analog signal from the receiver. In addition, the microprocessor might contain custom logic for doing low level filtering and processing of read tag data. 2. 6. 3 MEMORY Memory is used for storing data such as the reader configuration parameters and list of tag reads. Depending on the memory size, however, a limit applies as to how many such tag reads can be stored at one time. If the connection remains down for an extended period with the reader reading tags during this downtime, this limit might be exceeded an part of the stored data lost. 2. 6. 4 I/O channels Readers do not have to be turned on for reading tags at all time. A sensor of some sort, such as a motion or light sensor, detects the presence of tagged objects in the readers read zone. This sensor can then set the reader on to read this tag. Similarly, this component also allows the reader to provide local output depending on some condition via an annunciators or an actuator. 2. 6. 6 CONTROLLER A controller is an entity that allows an external entity, either a human or a computer program, to communicate with and control a reader’s function and to control annunciators and actuators associated with the reader. . 6. 7 COMMUNICATION INTERFACE The communication interface component provides the communication instructions to a reader that allows it to interact with external entities, via a controller to transfers its stored data and to accept commands and send back the corresponding responses. 2. 6. 8 POWER This component supplies power to the reader component. The power sources g enerally provided to this component through a power cord connected to an appropriate external electrical outlet. 2. 7 COMMUNICATION BETWEEN A READER AND A TAG Depending on the tag type, the communication between the reader and a tag can be one of the following: †¢ Modulated backscatter †¢ Transmitter type †¢ Transponder type The area between a reader antenna and one full wave length of the RF wave emitted by the antenna is called near field. The area beyond one full wavelength of the RF wave emitted from a reader antenna is called far field. Passive rfid systems operating in LF and HF use near field communication, whereas those in UHF and microwave frequencies use far field communication. The signal strength in near field communication attenuates as the cube of the distance from the reader antenna. In far field, it attenuates as square of the distance from the reader antenna. 2. 7. 1 MODULATED BACK SCATTER Modulated backscatter communication applies to passive as well as to semi active tags. In This type of communication, the reader sends out a continuous wave (CW) RF signal containing ac power and clock signal to the tag at carrier frequency. Through physical coupling, the antennas supplies power to the microchip. About 1. 2v are generally necessary to energize the tag microchip for reading microchips. For writing, the microchip usually needs to draw about 2. 2v from the reader signal. The microchip now modulates or breaks up the input signal in to a sequence of on and off patterns that represents its data and transmits it back. When the reader receives this modulated signal, it decodes the pattern and obtains the data. Thus, in modulated backscatter communication, the reader always â€Å"talks† first, followed by the tag. A tag using this scheme cannot communicate at all in the absence of a reader because it depends totally on the reader’s power to transmit its data. pic] Figure 2. 4: backscatter communication 2. 7. 2 TRANSMITTER TYPE This type of communication applies to active tags only. In this type of communication, the tag broadcasts its message to the environment in regular intervals irrespective of the presence or absence of a reader. Therefore, in this type of communication, the tag always â€Å"talks† first rather than the reader. [pic] Figure 2. 5: T RANSMITTER communication 3. 4. 3 TRANSPONDER TYPE In this type of communication, the tag goes to a â€Å"sleep† or in to dormant stage in the absence of interrogation from a reader. In this stage, the tag might periodically send a message to check any reader is listening to it. When a reader receives such a query message, it can instruct the tag to â€Å"wake up† or end the dormant stage. When the tag receives this command from the reader, it exits its current state and starts to act as a transmitter tag again. The tag data is sent only the reader specially asks. [pic] Figure 2. 6: TRANSPONDER communication chapter 3 microcontroller 3. 1 INTRODUCTION The hardware includes the following components: ? Atmega162 (micro controller). ? Power supply. ? In system programming. ? Buzzer. Liquid crystal display. ? Reset. ? Max 232. 3. 2 Hardware details of ATMEGA162 controller Utilizes the AVR – RSIC architecture. 3. 2. 1 Features ? High-performance and Low-power Advanced RISC Architecture. ? Most single clock execution. ? 32 x 8 general purpose working registers. ? Fully static operation. ? On chip 2 cycle multiplier. ? Up to 16 MIPS throughput at 16 MHz. ? 131 powerful instructions. 3. 2. 2 Non-volatile Program and Data Memories ? 16K Bytes of In-System Self-programmable Flash. ? Endurance: 10,000 Write/Erase Cycles. ? 512 Bytes EEPROM. ? 1K Bytes Internal SRAM. Up to 64K Bytes Optional External Memory Space. ? Programming Lock for Flash program and EEPROM data Security. 3. 2. 3 Peripheral Features ? Two 8-bit Timer/Counters with Separate Modes. ? Two 16-bit Timer/Counters with Separate Compare Modes, and Capture Modes. ? Real Time Counter with Separate Oscillator. ? Six PWM Channels. ? Dual Programmable Serial USARTs. ? Master/Slave SPI Serial Interface. ? Programmable Watchdog Timer with Separate On-chip Oscillator. ? On-chip Analog Comparator. ? External and internal interrupt sources. 3. 2. 4 SPECIFICATION ? Low power high speed CMOS process technology. Fully static operation. ? Power consumption at 4 MHz, 3v, 25c. ? Active: 3. 0 MA. 3. 2. 5 Special Microcontroller Features ? Power-on Reset and Programmable Brown-out Detection. ? Internal Calibrated RC Oscillator. ? External and Internal Interrupt Sources. ? Five Sleep Modes: Idle, Power-save, Power-down, Standby, and Extended Standby. 3. 2. 6 I/O and Packages ? 35 Programmable I/O Lines. ? 40-pin PDIP, 44-lead TQFP, and 44-pad MLF. 3. 2. 7 Operating Voltages ? 1. 8 – 5. 5V for ATmega162V. ? 2. 7 – 5. 5V for ATmega162. 3. 2. 8 Speed Grades ? 0 – 8 MHz for ATmega162V. ? 0 – 16 MHz for ATmega162. 3. ATMEGA162 architectural overview The ATmega162 is a low-power CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on the AVR enhanced RISC architecture. By executing powerful instructions in a single clock cycle, the ATmega162 achieves throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz allowing the system designer to optimize power consumption versus processing speed. The AVR core combines a rich instruction set with 32 general purpose working registers. All the 32 registers are directly connected to the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), allowing two independent registers to be accessed in one single instruction executed in one clock cycle. . 3. 1 features OF ATMEGA162 The 16K bytes of In-System Programmable Flash with Read-While-Write capabilities, 512 bytes EEPROM, 1K bytes SRAM, an external memory interface, 35 general purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working registers, a JTAG interface for Boundary-scan, On-chip Debugging support and programming, four flexible Timer/Counters with compare modes, internal and external interrupts, two serial programmable USARTs, a programmable Watchdog Timer with Internal Oscillator, an SPI serial port, and five software selectable power saving modes. The fast-access Register File contains 32 x 8-bit general purpose working registers with a single clock cycle access time. This allows single-cycle Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) operation. In a typical ALU operation, two operands are output from the Register File, the operation is executed, and the result is stored back in the Register File – in one clock cycle. Six of the 32 registers can be used as three 16-bit indirect addresses register pointers for Data Space addressing – enabling efficient address calculations. One of these address pointers can also be used as an address pointer for look up tables in Flash Program memory. These added function registers are the 16-bit X-, Y-, and Z-register, described later in this section. The ALU supports arithmetic and logic operations between registers or between a constant and a register. Single register operations can also be executed in the ALU. After an arithmetic operation, the Status Register is updated to reflect information about the result of the operation. [pic] Figure 3. 1: BLOCK Diagram. Program flow is provided by conditional and unconditional jump and call instructions, able to directly address the whole address space. Most AVR instructions have a single 16-bit word format. Every program memory address contains a 16 or 32-bit instruction. [pic] Figure 3. 2: BLOCK Diagram of the AVR Architecture Program Flash memory space is divided in two sections, the Boot Program section and the Application Program section. Both sections have dedicated Lock bits for write and read/write protection. The SPM instruction that writes into the Application Flash memory section must reside in the Boot Program section. During interrupts and subroutine calls, the return address Program Counter (PC) is stored on the Stack. The Stack is effectively allocated in the general data SRAM, and consequently the Stack size is only limited by the total SRAM size and the usage of the SRAM. All user programs must initialize the SP in the reset routine (before subroutines or interrupts are executed). [pic] Figure 3. 3: Data Memory Map 3. 3. 2 ALU – Arithmetic Logic Unit The high-performance AVR ALU operates in direct connection with all the 32 general purpose working registers. Within a single clock cycle, arithmetic operations between general purpose registers or between a register and an immediate are executed. The ALU operations are divided into three main categories – arithmetic, logical, and bit-functions. 3. 3. 3 Status Register The Status Register contains information about the result of the most recently executed arithmetic instruction. This information can be used for altering program flow in order to perform conditional operations. Status Register format [pic] Bit 7 – I: Global Interrupt Enable: The Global Interrupt Enable bit must be set for the interrupts to be enabled. The individual interrupt enable control is then performed in separate control registers. If the Global Interrupt Enable Register is cleared, none of the interrupts are enabled independent of the individual interrupt enable settings. The I-bit is cleared by hardware after an interrupt has occurred, and is set by the RETI instruction to enable subsequent interrupts. Bit 6 – T: Bit Copy Storage: The Bit Copy instructions BLD (Bit Load) and BST (Bit Store) use the T bit as source or destination for the operated bit. Bit 5 – H: Half Carry Flag: The Half Carry Flag H indicates a half carry in some arithmetic operations. Half Carry is useful in BCD arithmetic. Bit 4 – S: Sign Bit, S = N. V: The S-bit is always an exclusive or between the Negative Flag N and the Two’s Complement Overflow Flag V. Bit 3 – V: Two’s Complement Overflow Flag: The Two’s Complement Overflow Flag V supports two’s complement arithmetic. Bit 2 – N: Negative Flag: The Negative Flag N indicates a negative result in an arithmetic or logic operation. Bit 1 – Z: Zero Flag: The Zero Flag Z indicates a zero result in an arithmetic or logic operation. Bit 0 – C: Carry Flag: The Carry Flag C indicates a carry in an arithmetic or logic operation. 3. 3. 4 Stack Pointer The Stack is mainly used for storing temporary data, for storing local variables and for storing return addresses after interrupts and subroutine calls. The Stack Pointer Register always points to the top of the Stack. The Stack Pointer points to the data SRAM Stack area where the Subroutine and Interrupt Stacks are located. This Stack space in the data SRAM must be defined by the program before any subroutine calls are executed or interrupts are enabled. Stack Pointer FORMAT pic] The Stack Pointer is incremented by one when data is popped from the Stack with the POP instruction, and it is incremented by two when data is popped from the Stack with return from subroutine RET or return from interrupt RETI. The AVR Stack Pointer is implemented as two 8-bit registers in the I/O space. The number of bits actually used is implementation dependent. 3. 3. 5 Reset and Interrupt Handling The AVR provi des several different interrupt sources. These interrupts and the separate Reset Vector each have a separate program vector in the program memory space. All interrupts are assigned individual enable bits which must be written logic one together with the Global Interrupt Enable bit in the Status Register in order to enable the interrupt. There are basically two types of interrupts. The first type is triggered by an event that sets the Interrupt Flag. For these interrupts, the Program Counter is vectored to the actual Interrupt Vector in order to execute the interrupt handling routine, and hardware clears the corresponding Interrupt Flag. Interrupt Flags can also be cleared by writing a logic one to the flag bit position(s) to be cleared. If an interrupt condition occurs while the corresponding interrupt enable bit is cleared, the Interrupt Flag will be set and remembered until the interrupt is enabled, or the flag is cleared by software. The second type of interrupts will trigger as long as the interrupt condition is present. These interrupts do not necessarily have Interrupt Flags. If the interrupt condition disappears before the interrupt is enabled, the interrupt will not be triggered. 3. 3. 6 In-System Reprogrammable Flash Program Memory The ATmega162 contains 16K bytes On-chip In-System Reprogrammable Flash memory for program storage. Since all AVR instructions are 16 or 32 bits wide, the Flash is organized as 8K x 16. For software security, the Flash Program memory space is divided into two sections, Boot Program section and Application Program section. [pic] Figure 3. 4 Programmable Memory Map The Flash memory has an endurance of at least 10,000 write/erase cycles. The ATmega162 Program Counter (PC) is 13 bits wide, thus addressing the 8K program memory locations. 3. 4 EEPROM Data Memory The ATmega162 contains 512 bytes of data EEPROM memory. It is organized as a separate data space, in which single bytes can be read and written. The EEPROM has an endurance of at least 100,000 write/erase cycles. The access between the EEPROM and the CPU is described in the following, specifying the EEPROM Address Registers, the EEPROM Data Register, and the EEPROM Control Register. 3. 4. 1 EEPROM Read/Write Access The EEPROM Access Registers are accessible in the I/O space. A self timing function, however, lets the user software detect when the next byte can be written. If the user code contains instructions that write the EEPROM, some precautions must be taken. In heavily filtered power supplies, VCC is likely to rise or fall slowly on Power-up/down. This causes the device for some period of time to run at a voltage lower than specified as minimum for the clock frequency used. In order to prevent unintentional EEPROM writes, a specific write procedure must be followed. The EEPROM Address Register [pic] Bits 15. 9 – Res: Reserved Bits These bits are reserved bits in the ATmega162 and will always read as zero. Bits 8. 0 – EEAR8. 0: EEPROM Address The EEPROM Address Registers – EEARH and EEARL specify the EEPROM address in the 512 bytes EEPROM space. The EEPROM data bytes are addressed linearly between 0 and 511. The initial value of EEAR is undefined. A proper value must be written before the EEPROM may be accessed. The EEPROM Data Register –EEDR [pic] Bits 7. 0 – EEDR7. 0: EEPROM Data For the EEPROM write operation, the EEDR Register contains the data to be written to the EEPROM in the address given by the EEAR Register. For the EEPROM read operation, the EEDR contains the data read out from the EEPROM at the address given by EEAR. The EEPROM Control Register – EECR [pic] Bits 7. 4 – Res: Reserved Bits These bits are reserved bits in the ATmega162 and will always read as zero. Bit 3 – EERIE: EEPROM Ready Interrupt Enable Writing EERIE to one enables the EEPROM Ready Interrupt if the I bit in SREG is set. Writing EERIE to zero disables the interrupt. The EEPROM Ready interrupt generates a constant interrupt when EEWE is cleared. Bit 2 – EEMWE: EEPROM Master Write Enable The EEMWE bit determines whether setting EEWE to one cause the EEPROM to be written. When EEMWE is set, setting EEWE within four clock cycles will write data to the EEPROM at the selected address. If EEMWE is zero, setting EEWE will have no effect. When EEMWE has been written to one by software, hardware clears the bit to zero after four clock cycles. See the description of the EEWE bit for an EEPROM write procedure. Bit 1 – EEWE: EEPROM Write Enable The EEPROM Write Enable signal EEWE is the write strobe to the EEPROM. When address and data are correctly set up, the EEWE bit must be written to one to write the value into the EEPROM. The EEMWE bit must be written to one before a logical one is written to EEWE; otherwise no EEPROM write takes place. The following procedure should be followed when writing the EEPROM (the order of steps 3 and 4 is not essential): 1. Wait until EEWE becomes zero. 2. Wait until SPMEN in SPMCR becomes zero. 3. Write new EEPROM address to EEAR (optional). 4. Write new EEPROM data to EEDR (optional). 5. Write a logical one to the EEMWE bit while writing a zero to EEWE in EECR. 6. Within four clock cycles after setting EEMWE, write a logical one to EEWE. The EEPROM can not be programmed during a CPU write to the Flash memory. The software must check that the Flash programming is completed before initiating a new EEPROM write. Step 2 is only relevant if the software contains a Boot Loader allowing the CPU to program the Flash. If the Flash is never being updated by the CPU, step 2 can be omitted. Caution: An interrupt between step 5 and step 6 will make the write cycle fail, since the EEPROM Master Write Enable will time-out. If an interrupt routine accessing the EEPROM is interrupting another EEPROM access, the EEAR or EEDR Register will be modified, causing the interrupted EEPROM access to fail. It is recommended to have the Global Interrupt Flag cleared during all the steps to avoid these problems. When the write access time has elapsed, the EEWE bit is cleared by hardware. The user software can poll this bit and wait for a zero before writing the next byte. When EEWE has been set, the CPU is halted for two cycles before the next instruction is executed. Bit 0 – EERE: EEPROM Read Enable The EEPROM Read Enable Signal EERE is the read strobe to the EEPROM. When the correct address is set up in the EEAR Register, the EERE bit must be written to a logic one to trigger the EEPROM read. The EEPROM read access takes one instruction, and the requested data is available immediately. When the EEPROM is read, the CPU is halted for four cycles before the next instruction is executed. The user should poll the EEWE bit before starting the read operation. If a write operation is in progress, it is neither possible to read the EEPROM, nor to change the EEAR Register. 3. 5 Timing External memory devices have various timing requirements. It is important to consider the timing specification of the external memory device before selecting the wait-state. The most important parameters are the access time for the external memory in conjunction with the set-up requirement of the ATmega162. [pic] Figure 3. 5: External Data Memory Cycles without Wait-state. 3. 6 Crystal Oscillator XTAL1 and XTAL2 are input and output, respectively, of an inverting amplifier which can be configured for use as an On-chip Oscillator. Either a quartz crystal or a ceramic resonator may be used. C1 and C2 should always be equal for both crystals and resonators. The optimal value of the capacitors depends on the crystal or resonator in use, the amount of stray capacitance, and the electromagnetic noise of the environment. The Oscillator can operate in four different modes, each optimized for a specific frequency range. [pic] Figure 3. 6: Crystal Oscillator Connections 3. 6. 1 Low-frequency Crystal Oscillator The Low-frequency Crystal Oscillator must be selected by setting the CKSEL Fuses to â€Å"0100†, â€Å"0101†, â€Å"0110† or â€Å"0111†. The crystal should be connected as shown in Figure. If CKSEL equals â€Å"0110† or â€Å"0111†, the internal capacitors on XTAL1 and XTAL2 are enabled, thereby removing the need for external capacitors. The internal capacitors have a nominal value of 10 pF. When this Oscillator is selected, start-up times are determined by the SUT Fuses (real time-out from Reset) and CKSEL0 (number of clock cycles) as shown in below tables [pic] Table 4. 1 Start-up DELAYS from Reset when Low-frequency Crystal Oscillator is selected . 7 Watchdog Timer If the Watchdog Timer is not needed in the application, this module should be turned off. If the Watchdog Timer is enabled, it will be enabled in all sleep modes, and hence, always consume power. In the deeper sleep modes, this will contribute significantly to the total current consumption. Chapter 4 Intelligent campus using rfid 4. 1 INTRODUCTION This project describes about the efficient used of RFID technology around us, it also describes about the use of both hardware and software. In addition we also focus on monitoring every individual inside the campus. 4. 2 Basic setup [pic]Figure 4. 1 basic setup The basic external setup for the project is shown in figure 8. 1. The HF reader is connected to microcontroller through RS-232 cable and the IR pairs are connected to the port pins of microcontroller. The microcontroller is then connected to the host computer (server) through RS-232 cable. The detailed explanation of the blocks are given below 4. 3 PERIPHERALS 4. 3. 1 I/O PORTS All AVR ports have true read-modify-write functionality when used as general digital I/O ports. This means that the direction of one port pin can be changed without unintentionally changing the direction of any other pin with the SBI and CBI instructions. Port A Port A is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port. Three I/O memory address locations are allocated for the Port A, one each for the Data Register – PORT A, SIB($IB($3B), Data Direction Register – DDRA, $1A($3A) and the Port A. Input Pins – PINA, $19($39). The Port A Input Pins address is read only, while the Data Register and the Data Direction Register are read/write. Port B Port B is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port. Three I/O memory address locations are allocated for the Port B, one each for the Data Register – PORT B, $18($38), Data Direction Register – DDRB, $17($37) and the Port B Input Pins – PINB, $16($36). The Port B Input Pins address is read only, while the Data Register and the Data Direction Register are read/write. Port C Port C is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port. Three I/O memory address locations are allocated for the Port C, one each for the Data Register – PORT C, $15($35), Data Direction Register – DDRC, $14($34) and the Port C Input Pins – PINC, $13($33) The Port C Input Pins address is read only, while the Data Register and the Data Direction Register are read/write. Port D Port D is an 8-bit bi-directional I/O port. Three I/O memory address locations are allocated for the Port D, one each for the Data Register – PORT D, $12($32), Data Direction Register – DDRD, $11($31) and the Port D Input Pins – PIND, $10($30). The Port D Input Pins address is read only, while the Data Register and the Data Direction Register are read/write. 4. 4 USART (Universal Synchronous and Asynchronous serial Receiver and Transmitter): The Universal Synchronous and Asynchronous serial Receiver and Transmitter (USART) is a highly flexible serial communication device. The main features are: ? Asynchronous or Synchronous Operation ? Master or Slave Clocked Synchronous Operation ? Odd or Even Parity Generation and Parity Check Supported by Hardware ? Data Overrun Detection ? Framing Error Detection ? Three Separate Interrupts on TX Complete, TX Data Register Empty and RX Complete ? Multi-processor Communication Mode ? Double Speed Asynchronous Communication Mode The ATmega162 has two USARTs, USART0 and USART1. USART0 and USART1 have different I/O Registers. Portd0 is the receiver pin and portd1 is the transmitter pin. Here we are using IC MAX232 as a UART driver. [pic] Figure 4. 2 uart driver. 4. 4. 1 AVR UART – Compatibility The USART is fully compatible with the AVR UART regarding: ? Bit locations inside all USART Registers ? Baud Rate Generation ? Transmitter Operation ? Transmit Buffer Functionality ? Receiver Operation 4. 4. 2 USART Initialization The USART has to be initialized before any communication can take place. The initialization process normally consists of setting the baud rate, setting frame format and enabling the Transmitter or the Receiver depending on the usage. For interrupt driven USART operation, the Global Interrupt Flag should be cleared (and interrupts globally disabled) when doing the initialization. The TXC Flag can be used to check that the Transmitter has completed all transfers, and the RXC Flag can be used to check that there are no unread data in the receive buffer. 4. 5 SENSOR Sensors are the devices that are used to convert the physical parameter into signal that can be measured electrically and it can be easily given as an input to the microcontroller. The effectual sensor should have the following properties namely, ? Sensor should be sensitive to measured property. ? It should be insensitive to any other property. ? It should not influence any other property. An IR sensor is used. It uses IR LED as an IR transmitter, which emits IR rays in the wavelength of 940 nm and a phototransistor is used as IR receiver, which detects IR rays and the output comes in collector. If the receiver is receiving IR rays the output will be low otherwise output is high. The output of the receiver is given to the comparator chip LM393, which compares the receiver output with the prefixed voltage signal. The output of the comparator is given to microcontroller. [pic] Figure 4. 3 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF IR SENSOR 4. 5. 1 IR TRANSMITTER LED, a special type of semiconductor diode that has a pn junction acts as a transmitter. The wavelength and the color of the light depend on the band gap energy of the material forming pn junction. The materials used for a LED have a direct band gap energy corresponding to near IR, but Germanium and silicon are indirect band gap materials resulting in a non – radiative recombination. Hence does not emit light. The advantages of LED over incandescent sources are: ? Less costly Long life span ? Insensitive to vibration and shocks. 4. 5. 2 IR RECEIVER A phototransistor is used to detect the IR rays from the LED. It is a bi polar junction that is encased in a transparent case so that light can reach the base collector junction. The phototransistor works like a photodiode with a very high very high sensitivity for light, because the electrons that are gene rated by photons in the base collector junction are injected to base and amplified like a transistor. It has a slower response time than photodiode. [pic] Figure 4. 4 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF IR SENSOR 4. 5. 3COMPARATOR The comparator is a circuit which compares a signal voltage applied at one input of an op-amp with a known reference voltage at the other input. For an inverting comparator the reference voltage is applied to the (+) input and input is given to the (-) terminal. The common mode voltage range includes ground, and the differential input voltage equals power supply voltage. [pic] Figure 4. 5: PIN CONFIGURATION OF LM 393 4. 6 BUZZER It is a transducer which converts electrical signal to sound signal. Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical stress. The effect is reversible (i. . ) crystals when subjected to external applied voltage can change shape by a small amount and the effect is of nanometers. [pic] Figure 4. 6 circuit diagram of buzzer 4. 7 RS-232C RS-232 stands for Recommend Standard number 232 and C is the latest revision of the standard. The serial ports on most computers use a subset of the RS-232C standard. [pic] Fig ure: 4. 7. RS-232 CONNECTOR 4. 7. 1 DB9 INFORMATION The DB9 connection has 9 pins which are each described in the below table. The illustration below is an example of the female serial connector, which would usually be located on the connector that would connect to the computer. 9 pin connector on a DTE device (PC connection) | |Pin No |Direction of the signal | |1 |Carrier(CD) ( from DCE) incoming signal from the modem | |2 |Received data (RD) incoming data from DCE | |3 |Transmit data (TD) outgoing data to a DCE | |4 |Data terminal ready (DTR) outgoing handshake signal | |5 |Signal ground common reference voltage | |6 |Data set ready (DSR) incoming handshaking signal | |7 |Request to send (RTS) outgoing flow control signal | |8 |Clear to send (CTS) incoming flow control signal | |9 |Ring indicator (RI) (from DCE) incoming signal from a modem | Table: 4. 1: DB9 connector DTE stands for Data Terminal Equipment, and DCE stands for Data Communications Equipment. These terms are used to indicate the pin-out for the connectors on a device and the direction of the signals on the pins The RS-232 standard states that DTE devices use a 9-pin male connector, and DCE devices use a 9-pin female connector. 4. 8 LCD LCD is an output device which is used to display a character or a text through microcontroller. So, the LCD is connected in the output port pins of microcontroller. A 2 line LCD display has totally 32 pins. 32 characters can be displayed in our LCD. [pic] Figure 4. 8: 16Ãâ€"2 LCD DISPLAY The starting address for the first line is $80 and for end address is $8F and for second line the starting address is $C0 and the end address is $CF. Pin no |Pin name |I/P or O/P |External connection |Function | |1 |VSS |– |Power supply |GND | |2 |VDD |– | |+5V | |3 |VO |– | |V lcd adjustment | |4 |RS |I/p |MPU |Register select signal | |5 |R/W |I/p |MPU |Read/write select signal | | | | | |Read-1; write-2. | |6 |E |I/p MPU |Operation enable signal | |7-10 |DB0-DB3 |I/p |MPU |Lower order lines | |11-14 |DB4-DB7 |I/p |MPU |Higher order lines | |15-16 |LED,,+,, |I/p |LED backlight power supply |LED,,+,, voltage | | |LED,,-,, | | |type : 4. 2V;Max: 4. 5V | | | | | |LED,,-,, : GND | Table 4. 2 discription of lcd terminals Chapter 5 VISUAL BASIC 5. 1 INTRODUCTION The Visual Basic language is quite powerful – if one can imagine a programming task; it can probably be accomplished using Visual Basic. Once the basics of Visual Basic are understood then one becomes productive. 5. 2 About Visual Basic The â€Å"Visual† part refers to the method used to create the graphical user interface (GUI), Rather than writing numerous lines of code to describe the appearance and location of interface elements, simply add pre built objects into place on screen. The â€Å"Basic† part refers to the BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) language, a language used by more programmers. Visual Basic has evolved from the original BASIC languages and now contains several hundred statements, functions, and keywords, many of which relate directly to the Windows GUI. Beginners can create useful applications by learning just a few of the keywords, yet the power of the language allows professionals to accomplish anything that can be accomplished using any other Windows programming language. The Visual Basic programming language is not unique to Visual Basic. The Visual Basic programming system, Applications Edition included in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and many other Windows applications uses the same language. The Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VB Script) is a widely used scripting language and a subset of the Visual Basic language. The investment one makes in learning Visual Basic will carry over to many other areas. Whether the goal is to create a small utility for an individual, a work group a large enterprise-wide system, or even distributed applications spanning the globe via the Internet, Visual Basic has the required tools. 5. 3 ADVANTAGES ? Data Access features allow you to create databases, front-end applications, and scalable server-side components for most popular database formats, including Microsoft SQL Server and other enterprise-level databases. ? ActiveXTM Technologies allow you use the functionality provided by other applications, such as Microsoft Word Processor, Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and other Windows applications. Even applications can be automated and objects can be created using the Professional or Enterprise editions of Visual Basic. ? Internet capabilities make it easy to provide access to documents and applications across the Internet or intranet from within the application, or to create Internet server applications. ? The finished application is a true. exe file that uses a Visual Basic Virtual Machine that you can freely distribute. 5. 4 Program description The front end is visual basic and this programming concept is chosen because it is more users friendly. The information or the status about the persons is displayed and the same can be stored in a database so that it can be accessed later. [pic] Figure 5. : output and database creation, checking form Chapter 6 conclusion RFID technology is a budding technology that is fast growing world wide. RFID proves to be cutting edge technology through its applications. This project moves a step ahead in RFID’s application and presents a new dimension to view through. This project proves to be entirely different and innovative of RFID technology with the existing components. Such an introduction of a new methodology in the RFID technology enhances its use and improves the present knowledge. The project â€Å"INTELLIGENT campus using RFID† will sure make a great difference in the present industrial applications of RFID. It will provide the ultimate solution for the problems that exists in various cases. This is a prototype of the proposed idea wherein the entire reason behind it is to provide a fully compact, covering larger distance. 6. 1 PROCESS EXPLANATION The various processes that take place during the working of the project are as follows: The RFID tag is a passive, high frequency device in which some unique data’s can be stared in the form of serial numbers known as ELECTRONIC PRODUCT CODE (EPC). Whenever the RFID tag comes in the field of a particular reader, the reader detects the tag and sends the detected information about the EPC to the microcontroller. ACTIVITY FLOWCHART Figure 6. 1: activity flow chart The received information will be fed into the microcontroller which compares the epc number to specific information’s about group of individuals. If the received information is already in the list, it will allow the user to enter inside the campus and also maintains a database for storing this information. The reader refreshes its data continuously checks after certain amount of time interval and when the RFID reader detects the absence of a tag it will remove the tag details from the list. The database can be created with the help of visual basic programming. [pic] Figure 6. 2: database creation of persons entering into the campus Whenever the tag enters into a specific location such as class rooms, library etc, the reader present in that location will detects the tag. Two IR transmitter – receiver pairs are used for the purpose of monitoring whether the person is entering the room or leaving the room. The IR rays interfering sequence is fed to the microcontroller and it is used for detecting the status of the person having that particular tag. The details or the status are also saved into database using visual basic coding. The databases can be shared in the network and it can be used for finding or monitoring each and every individual belonging to that campus. [pic] Figure 6. 3: database creation of persons entering into PARTICULAR LOCATION. The same can be used to find the individual location using search option. 6. 2 FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS The project could further be developed and enhanced in an effective way by suitable polarization RFID reader antennas and increasing the frequency range so that it would not only provide the solution for monitoring persons in a smaller area as mentioned in this model. The security can also be increased by replacing IR devices by some bio-metric ideas. ———————– 162- MICRO CONTROLLER LCD I/O P O R T S I/O P O R T S BUZZER IR 1 IR 2 USART USART PC RFID END CREATES A DATA BASE (In/Out) 1-2 OR 2-1 Yes No Interruption Occurred CHECHS FOR IR SIGNAL CREATES A DATA BASE (Present inside the campus) INFORMATION TRANSFER FROM RFID READER TO M162 Yes RFID TAG PRESENT No READER SIGNAL TRANSMIT START