Discover the enchanting world of crystal chandeliers

Since the time of kings and knights, crystal chandeliers have up to modern days enchanted the mood of anyone who gazes up on them, leaving a feeling of bedazzlement and wonders.

Charm is inherent in each and every piece of crystal. For many centuries, crystals have always been an awe-inspiring piece of art. Would you believe that they possess therapeutic values as people heal themselves with crystals? If you are to gaze upon a clear or colored crystal, your eyes will be caught by its magic. You cannot help but wonder at how it gives you delight and joy. Doesn't joy lessen the tension of your tired body at the end of a stressful day at work? Wouldn't it be right to bring such joy to our daily lives by enriching our environment with the ever-enchanting crystal chandeliers? I may be in wishful thinking mode as I write this article. I may be too idealistic. In reality, people are the ones who create the world we live in. It is us who dictate our own personal realities to the world. So why not enhance the reality we need. You must take control of our lighting fundamentals. Choose the style of crystal chandeliers to light your home, a style to suit your own taste. The modern day influence on the designs of crystal chandelier is prevalent on the recent editions of chandeliers. The present designs provide a sense of modernity to one's interior decoration emphasizing the owner's sense of appreciation. You can have an array of modern day crystal chandeliers which are made of two or more materials like metals painted with chrome, silver, gold, or bronze and are combined with glass materials enhanced with stylish lighting elements or candle holders within it. The arts and craftsmanship are results of advanced tools and equipment available nowadays. Crystal chandelier market has received a lot of boosting that is why people can make use of this piece of arts to enhance their somewhat humble homes and make it look like a mansion of their dreams. Chandelier can easily control the motif of the interior decoration of a simple-looking house. Chandelier designs can be custom-made based on a customer's personal choice as this is one way of exploring his own designing skills and displaying his own brand of art. Most manufacturers and sellers observed that buyers prefer crystal chandelier because of its "flashing elegance and beauty, reflecting any lights that might come upon it." Crystal chandeliers come in an array of selection which could fit to an individual's taste and personality. There are people who still go for the Victorian or Renaissance type. If you the type of person who cannot decide which you really want, you can always consult professional interior designers. Normally, manufacturers or sellers can give you bits and pieces of advice as to the kind of chandelier would fit to your home. Oftentimes, consultations and estimations are given free of charge. Lighten up your life, enrich it and indulge your senses with the dazzling beauty of the ever enchanting world of crystal chandeliers.

Article Author Ma. Roma Agsalud from Jump2top.com, a SEO Company. Visit GoldenAge Crystal Chandeliers & Lighting Fixtures at http://www.goldenageusa.com

A Search for the World's Largest Chandelier

Ever wonder where the world’s largest chandelier is located? Stand in line – there are quite a few places that claim to have the world’s largest chandelier. Here is a list of some of the world’s biggest chandeliers. Decide for yourself which one can claim the crown as THE largest chandelier in the world.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Perhaps the largest chandelier in the world is located here! This crystal chandelier is about 46 feet high (picture a four story building!). It is about 26 feet in diameter, and it comes to a weight of 8.5 tons which is close to 20,000 pounds! In other words, this crystal chandelier in Oman weights more than a large (very large) elephant. It is made up of 600,000 crystals. Of course, it makes sense that it should be so big… after all, can you imagine how tiny a regular size chandelier would look hanging from a 150 foot high ceiling with in an 80 foot wide dome?

The light emitted from this chandelier comes from 1,114 halogen bulbs. How would you like to have to be in charge of replacing those bulbs?! What’s more, all of the metal parts of the crystal chandelier are plated with 24-carat gold.

Some say that this chandelier is cited in the as a Guinness Book of Records, but the only records that I found for Oman is the lowest death rate, and the largest abacus!

Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Guinness World Records does have listed, however, the largest glass sculpture in the world. This sculpture is not what most people generally think of as a chandelier, but it still fits the bill. This ceiling chandelier was created by the famous glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. It measures 65 feet 7 inches by 29 feet 6 inches. It’s total weight? A total of 50,000 pounds, made up of 10,000 pounds of steel and 40,000 pounds of hand-blown glass! It truly is a site to behold.

Melbourne’s Crown Casino

While the chandelier in Melbourne’s Crown Casino cannot compete with the largest chandeliers of the world, it is generally noted as the largest chandelier in the southern hemisphere. This crystal chandelier is made up of 40,000 crystals. This, though, like Chihuly’s chandelier, is not your traditional chandelier. Sure, it is made up of crystals, but these crystals are not lit by candles or light bulbs. Rather, 10,000 fiber optics have been placed among the 40,000 crystals. These fibers work with two lasers that provide interesting animation on the ceiling.

Sand’s Casino, on the Chinese island Macao

This amazing, nearly 120 foot tall chandelier weighs an impressive 100,000 pounds plus.

Hollywood Casio, Shreveport, LA

This chandelier is clearly not the tallest, but it certainly deserves a mention. It is over three-story high, but the most impressive part about this chandelier is not just its size, but the lighting effects that come from it. There are three very unique colored lighting shows that the casino can put on.

Trafford Centre, Manchester England

Purportedly, come September of 2006, the world’s largest chandelier will by in Trafford Centre. No, this does not mean that one of the abovementioned chandeliers is going to be moved there. Rather, this Manchester shopping center is undergoing a huge remodel, and when it is done, the building will house a new, world’s largest chandelier!

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on chandeliers, please visit Crystal Chandeliers.

The End of Call Center Entrepreneurship:

The End of Call Center Entrepreneurship: And the Flowering of Offshore Outsourcing

CFA President, World Outsourcing Providers Association

There have been few entrepreneurial ventures in business history as rewarding as the offshore call center. Within Asia, there are numerous tales of entrepreneurs who made tons of money for themselves by creating substantial value for their customers and employees.

A recent one is Ambergris Solutions Inc. in Manila. The company was started a few years ago by three young entrepreneurs with little money of their own and even less call center experience. They had a lot to learn about running a call center, and it took 18 money-losing months before they stumbled upon their first paying customer. But over the two and a half years that followed, their business grew explosively to almost 3,000 employees serving a roster of blue-chip clients. A couple of months ago, controlling interest of the thriving enterprise was sold to a large Canadian IT organization called Telus International in a deal valued at $43.5 million. Many would agree this was an adequate paycheck for just a few years of work.

This story gives the impression that starting a call center in Asia is an easy path to fast riches. However, just a week or so after the announcement of the Ambergris deal, Gartner Inc. released an astonishing report that said, "As many as 70% of the top 15 Indian business process outsourcing start-ups will cease to exist in the coming months." Gartner added scathingly that "despite the hype, only a small fraction of customer service outsourcing will be done at offshore locations."

Dropping Like Flies

The two situations might seem contradictory, but they aren't. Margins in the call center sector have declined steadily over the past couple of years as customers demand lower bill rates and agents insist on higher salaries. The result has been a squeezing out of the smaller (and often newer) operators, which are unable to spread their fixed costs over a larger base of revenue producing agents. Throughout India and the Philippines, there has already been significant rationalization (i.e. closings, buyouts, mergers, etc.) in the call center industry, and Gartner is probably right to say that more are to come.

The Telus purchase of Ambergris, like IBM's purchase of Daksh eServices Pvt. Ltd. in India and numerous others, shows that the call center sector is now exclusively a game for big-boys -- it has become a "mature industry," as they say in MBA school. The days when someone could start a little call center of his own and learn the business along the way are finished.

So what's a greedy young entrepreneur to do now?

The pioneering efforts of the call center sector have proved that the concept of offshore outsourcing can succeed exceedingly well. (Actually, manufacturing proved this years ago, but let's not go into that.) In most large companies, however, answering telephone inquiries is a microscopic part of their overall business. The big opportunities in business process outsourcing are still to be realized.

This fact is shown in the diversity of the services offered by the current batch of outsourcing entrepreneurs. Here are a few examples of companies operating just in the Manila area: XMG Global IT Research and Advisory Inc. prepares high-end IT research, YellowAsp Corp. creates layout designs for printed circuit boards, Forssman Asia Pacific prepares construction design drawings, Key-In Data Solutions does claims processing, Primesoft develops advanced Web applications, VinciWorks designs online training programs, and Pulse DesignTech offers electronics design services. The list goes on and on.

The large IT services firms and the call center companies are jumping on the business process outsourcing bandwagon too. CapGemini has large facilities in three locations in China providing accounting and human resources outsourcing services. IBM's non-IT outsourcing operations are quickly becoming larger than those of IT in the Philippines.

A quick look at the Web site of IT consulting giant Accenture Ltd. reveals an astounding diversity of services. Under "Outsourcing" in the "Services Offered" section, there are Accenture Finance Solutions, Accenture HR Services, Accenture Learning, Accenture Procurement Solutions, Accenture Business Services for Utilities, Accenture eDemocracy Services, Navitaire Inc. and Accenture Insurance Services. By comparison, only two IT-related services are listed in the entire section.

Two of the world's five largest call center companies don't even call themselves call center companies anymore. ClientLogic Corp. is now an "international business process outsourcing provider." StarTek Inc. says it's a "global provider of business process outsourcing services."

It's clear that the difference between outsourcing today and outsourcing yesterday is significant. Whereas before, just a few business segments were growing rapidly (say, call centers and IT), now there are multitudes in the same situation, with countless more sure to follow. Some business leaders I have spoken to have used the phrase "tipping point" to describe the current life-cycle stage of services outsourcing. One fellow I spoke to thought the phrase "business process outsourcing" wasn't descriptive enough to express the vast diversity of the current environment. He felt a better phrase was something along the lines of "everything-anyone-can-possibly-imagine-as-being-outsourced outsourcing."

So, we shouldn't be overly concerned about missing the gold rush in offshore call center outsourcing. The business process outsourcing mother lode is just around the corner, and the opportunities are wide open. Greedy entrepreneurs everywhere should rejoice.

Richard Mills CFA is President of the World Outsourcing Providers Association (WOPA). The organization serves providers and customers of offshore outsourcing services. WOPA aims to improve the probability success of offshore outsourcing ventures by sharing best practices across organizations and countries.

e: info@outsourcingproviders.org w: www.outsourcingproviders.org

Richard is considered the leading expert on Asia-Pacific outsourcing by ComputerWorld magazine. His regular column called "View from Offshore" is a feature of the publication. Richard has also been called "guru on outsourcing"

Shopping for the Best Discount Chandeliers

Congratulations! You have decided to add the amazing look and warmth of a chandelier to your individual living space. While choosing the right type of chandelier for your home can often be difficult (crystal, rustic, contemporary, etc.), it is also a purchase that can represent a substantial investment. In fact, many chandeliers can cost upwards of several thousand dollars, depending on the materials used in design. With that being said, there are several merchants that offer outstanding discount chandeliers. How can you feel confident when shopping for the best discount chandeliers? In this article, we’ll take a look at some common sense tips that may just end up saving you major money on your chandelier purchase.

First and foremost, determine the type of chandelier that you are interested in buying. Once you identify the particulars of the piece you want to purchase, it will be much easier to find the right discount chandelier for you. What are the things to consider when shopping for the best discount chandelier? Naturally, you will want to have an idea of the style of chandelier you are searching for based upon the style of your home. It wouldn’t make much sense to buy a crystal chandelier if you live in a log cabin; conversely a contemporary chandelier would probably look out of place in a large mansion. You should then decide whether you prefer glass or metal, and how many lights you want your chandelier to have. Once you have a pretty good idea of the type of chandelier you are looking for, it will make shopping for the best discount chandeliers a painless process.

You should approach buying a discount chandelier much in the same way you would a car. Compare, compare, compare. There are literally hundreds of discount dealers out there, and they all offer unique chandeliers at varying prices. By searching several different merchants and the pieces they offer, you will be able to search out the best discount chandelier at the lowest price.

One tool that you should definitely consider when shopping for the best discount chandeliers is the internet. There are so many more retailers available online than in your local area, and many of them can offer rebates, free shipping, and/or custom designs. In addition, web sites such as ebay and ubid allow people from around the world to sell chandeliers at very low prices. One last advantage of using the internet when shopping for the best discount chandeliers is the ability to see detailed photos and receive in-depth details about the chandeliers you are interested in. Whereas your local merchant may only have a handful of chandeliers in the style you prefer, the internet is sure to have lots of choices at great prices.

A chandelier is sure to give any room in your home a whole new personality; an interior fashion face-lift if you will. By following the tips discussed above when shopping for the best discount chandeliers, you will be sure to find an amazing chandelier at an unbeatable value.

Jo Williams has an interest in Shopping & Retail and Discount Chandeliers, for more FREE information and articles please visit Discount Chandeliers Resources