Partnership: Nishat Chunian takes Oracle’s help

Nishat Chunian will also be upgrading their Oracle database environment to help lower its IT costs, deliver a higher quality of services, and further enabling their infrastructure to be fast, reliable, secure and easy to manage. PHOTO: NISHAT GROUP

LAHORE: Nishat Chunian Limited – the fourth largest textile company in Pakistan – has selected a range of Oracle fusion middleware, applications and database products to help optimise its business processes.

In a bid to overcome the challenge of upgrading a heavily customised legacy application, which is not only complex but also a cumbersome process, the organisation decided to deploy additional Oracle products enabling them to keep up with changing business needs and optimise the performance of their IT infrastructure.

With the help of multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware products, Nishat Chunian will be able to build the missing links between its critical applications.

For instance, the integration of the service-orientated architecture (SOA) suite with the enterprise resource management system will allow the upgrade process to be carried out easily by separating customisation from applications. Additionally, this will provide the company with a single consolidated view of real-time information from all the different processes and departments that will lead to informed decision making.

“Oracle solutions will help us manage our IT investment with much more efficiency by optimising the business processes and exacerbating the time to maket the products at lower costs.” said Nishat Chunian manager MIS Sufyan Elahi.

“A single consolidated view of real time information will enable the management to make quick and informed decisions, giving us an edge over our competitors”, he added.

Oracle Pakistan Regional Managing Director, Ahsan Javed added that this deployment of Oracle solutions will help enable Nishat Chunian to improve its business processes, boost end user productivity, and help eliminate issues with regulatory compliance and business continuity.

Nishat Chunian will also be upgrading their Oracle database environment to help lower its IT costs, deliver a higher quality of services, and further enabling their infrastructure to be fast, reliable, secure and easy to manage.

Why Costa will be the key piece in Mourinho's title plan

The Blues have agreed a deal to sign the feisty frontman and he will be charged with applying the finishing touch to chances created by Roman Abramovich's flair players

COMMENT
By Richard Jolly

Jose Mourinho is gaining a goalscorer and losing an excuse. He used to have a ready-made explanation whenever Chelsea failed to win: he didn’t have a striker. Not any longer.

No matter that Chelsea had the triple Champions League winner Samuel Eto’o or the £50 million man Fernando Torres. Or even, on the rare occasions he started, the less gifted but sporadically potent Demba Ba. They were striker-less, while the centurions of Liverpool and Manchester City had the firepower to reach 100 league goals apiece.

Now the framework is changing. Chelsea have agreed to sign Diego Costa. The spearhead of their attack will be the man who, in his own rough and ready way, went toe-to-toe with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the goalscoring stakes in Spain and propelled Atletico Madrid, the least talented of the top three teams, to the Primera Division title. 

CHELSEA AGREE COSTA DEAL

OFFICIAL: Chelsea agree Costa deal COMMENT: Why Costa will be key POLL: How many goals will he score? TIMELINE: How Goal broke the story

It is the sort of achievement that appeals to Mourinho, who forever imagines himself the underdog. More pertinently, Costa is the kind of striker who should suit his sides. Comparisons can be drawn with another late-blooming Diego, the Argentine Milito who fired his Inter team to Champions League glory.

There is no doubt the greatest striker of Mourinho’s Chelsea years was, rather than the declining Eto’o, Torres or Andriy Shevchenko, the forceful Didier Drogba. Costa does not possess quite as intimidating a frame but there is a similarly direct element to his game, another aggressive streak. Mourinho likes a striker who can wage war on a defence. Costa’s disciplinary record proves he is capable of doing just that.

The incongruous element about Chelsea 2.0, the successors to the team Mourinho built in 2004, was that they possessed the supply line but not the scorer. Roman Abramovich's fondness for flair players was expressed in the transfer market and creative talents arrived in abundance, from Eden Hazard and Oscar in 2012 through Willian and Andre Schurrle in 2013 and, most recently, Cesc Fabregas, without anyone to convert the many chances they fashion. Costa should be that player.

His 36-goal tally last season was remarkable. The concern for Chelsea might be that it is an outlier, never to be repeated: until a 20-goal campaign in 2012-13, he had never topped 10. Yet it is eerily reminiscent of Drogba, another who wasn’t prolific in his early twenties but who attracted Mourinho’s attention in a year when he struck 32 times.

He was 26 when he joined Chelsea. Costa will be 26 in October. Mourinho is paying for the finisher and the finished article alike. Certainly he should not be worried by Costa’s anti-climactic World Cup. The Brazilian-born attacker was never fully fit and rarely on the same wavelength as his team-mates. Chelsea, who look to get the ball forward rather quicker, don’t debate whether to play tiki-taka.  

They prioritise effectiveness and their inability to score against West Ham, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Norwich in the second half of the season came at a cost. A Premier League crown that appeared theirs to lose then seemed destined for Anfield before eventually ending up at the Etihad Stadium. Mourinho could argue his defeatism was justified every time his supposed scorers drew a blank.

When the more ruthless Costa puts pen to paper, Mourinho will have the most capable squad in England. He already has the outstanding defence. Fabregas has arrived to bolster the midfield and Costa is the striker he has been pursuing for months. Unlike the stopgap signing of Eto’o, this is his first choice.

Mourinho has got the man he wanted. Now he ought to get his title back.

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Lopez: James will play for a big club within two or three years

The AS Monaco defender is not surprised by his team-mate’s performances at the World Cup and backs him to win the Ballon d’Or later in his career

AS Monaco defender Borja Lopez believes that his team-mate James Rodriguez will play for a major club "within the next two or three years."

The Colombian playmaker has been arguably the star player of the World Cup so far, with five goals and two assists so far placing him on top of the goalscoring charts.

The 22-year-old has emerged as a hugely influential figure for the Cafeteros and scored a magnificent volleyed goal against Uruguay in Colombia’s last-16 clash.

Subsequently, James has been linked with a summer switch to one of Europe's elite clubs, with the player himself professing he would prefer a move to Real Madrid over Barcelona, and Lopez believes it will not be long before his team-mate is tempted to leave Stade Louis II.

"I'm convinced he'll join a big club within the next two or three years at the most," said Lopez, writing inMarca. "I can't say he's definitely a future Ballon d'Or winner, but if he keeps up this sort of form, why not?"

Lopez also said that he was unsurprised by Rodriguez's performances in Brazil.

"I'm not the least bit surprised by what James is doing at the World Cup because he played at this level throughout the season.

"He got the most assists in the French league and also scored quite a few goals.

"With his dead-ball prowess to boot, he grabs the headlines for what he does going forward, but he also puts in a shift defensively.

"At Monaco he often plays out wide, as a winger, but he's also lined up infield alongside [Joao] Moutinho. He's a player who loves mixing up his position, roaming around rather than always staying in the same area of the pitch."

Colombia have book a quarter-final meeting with Brazil at the Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza on Friday 4th July.

How does Diego Costa compare with Chelsea flops Torres, Eto'o & Ba?

The Blues have stumped up the Spain international's buy-out clause as Jose Mourinho revamps his forward line, but how much of an improvement is the 25-year-old striker?

Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid, with the Spaniard becoming the Blues' second summer signing after Cesc Fabregas.

Jose Mourinho will be hoping the Brazil-born attacker can finally provide the firepower his side have desperately lacked, with last season's trio of Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba all struggling.

Cameroon skipper Eto'o has since departed the club after his contract expired, the subject of "old man" jibes from his manager, though Ba and Torres remain.

As a collective, the three-piece managed just 19 Premier League goals last season, while Costa netted 27 in La Liga alone, with his goals driving Atleti towards the title.

Not only did he score more often, but he also missed fewer clear-cut chances. The 25-year-old's big chance conversation rate across the league and Champions League stood at 50 per cent, while it was just 44% for the Chelsea strikers.

Check out how Chelsea's latest signing stacks up against his new Stamford Bridge attacking team-mates...

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Barcelona promise to reveal Neymar 'truth'

The club's president says statements from the Brazil star's father and the Catalan club will back them up in the ongoing investigation into the transfer of the 22-year-old

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has promised to reveal the "truth" about his side's purchase ofNeymar over the course of the next month.

The prosecutor's office in Madrid is currently investigating the transfer fee the club paid for the star in the summer of 2013.

The reported sum was €57.1 million, but allegations have since surfaced that the club had failed to declare a further €37.9m, which was given to a company close to the Neymar family.

"We are quiet on the Neymar case," Bartomeu was quoted as saying by AS. "It was an interpretation of the prosecutor. 

"In July we will have statements from Rosell, the father of Neymar, and from [general director] Toni Rossich on behalf of the club.

"The truth of the Neymar event will benefit us. But it does not remove the possibility of a complaint.

"We will explain the same thing. We have published the exact figures but what we want is a judge or a prosecutor to interpret them the same as us. 

"When I say the truth through Toni Rossich, that will be the truth and is the truth."

Barcelona launch Suarez charm offensive

The striker has been banned for four months following the third biting incident of his career, but the Catalan giants have praised the 27-year-old for his show of remorse

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta and new signing Ivan Rakitic have praised Liverpool strikerLuis Suarez after the Uruguay international released a public apology for biting Giorgio Chiellini.

Suarez released the statement on Monday after being hit with a four-month ban by Fifa for the incident that took place during his side’s World Cup Group D clash with Italy last week.

The apology has led to talk that he was told to show remorse by Barca, who have been heavily been linked with a move for the 27-year-old. 

And on Tuesday, as the club unveiled new signing Rakitic, the Croatia international and Zubizarreta praised the "character and humility" shown by Suarez.

"I think we know about the circumstances that happened in the World Cup and he's had the character and humility to first recognise that he made a mistake,” said Zubizarreta.

"I think that's very important. He had the honour to come out and apologise to the people who had been hurt by his actions; the opposition and also football in general in the middle of a world football festival. 

"Now it's time for him to begin his recovery process. I think Luis Suarez did the best thing as a person and I also think as a footballer. What path he now takes, whether he stays at Liverpool or goes somewhere else, we will see.”

Suarez has been widely lambasted for the third biting incident of his career but has received support from his native Uruguay, with the nation's president Jose Mujica the latest to spring to his defence.

And Rakitic, who has signed a five-year-deal at Camp Nou, also spoke glowingly about the former Ajax man.

"That he has the character and the strength to step out in front of everyone and apologise says a lot about him as a person," Rakitic said.

"Not everyone has the strength to admit when have done something stupid… he should be commended for that."

Suarez is banned from all football-related activity until October 26.

Barcelona reveal Alexis Sanchez bids

The Chile star has reportedly attracted interest from the likes of Juventus and Liverpool and Barca president Maria Bartomeu admits they have received offers for the forward

Barcelona have confirmed they have received offers for Alexis Sanchez, but president Josep Maria Bartomeu says the club are not interested in selling the forward.

The 25-year-old impressed for Chile at the World Cup until they were eliminated by hosts Brazil in the last 16, following a season in which he scored 19 goals in 34 league appearances for Barca.

But despite his form, there has been persistent speculation that Alexis could depart Camp Nou, with reported interest from Serie A champions Juventus and Premier League club Arsenal.

"I can confirm we have received offers from several clubs for Alexis Sanchez," he said at a press conference. "Not just for what he has done at the World Cup but for what he has done before.

"He's a player there in the market that people have got an eye on but he's our player for the moment and he's a basic member of the way our team plays.

"He fits our system, he had a magnificent season last season. He scored a lot of goals, provided assists, had a lot of the ball.

"He's a player we would like to have with us next season. But we are getting a lot of calls from clubs who are making offers to buy Alexis Sanchez."

The Chilean has also been mentioned as part of a possible deal that could take Liverpool striker Luis Suarez to Spain