Global IT services spend to cross $625 bn by ’06: IDC
The worldwide IT services spending is likely to witness a strong growth during 2001-06, growing at a compounded rate of 12.4 percent, according to IDC. Worldwide, IT services is expected to surpass $625 billion by 2006.

The spending on offshore outsourcing, which is a relevant market for India, will grow at a rate even higher than that of overall IT services. According to IDC, “The offshore market has experienced a paradigm shift, it has moved from being a decision based primarily on cost, to being a more strategic decision.”

Wipro Technologies to set up Lehman Brothers offshore centre
Wipro Technologies is setting up a dedicated offshore development centre for Lehman Brothers, which is likely to have a revenue potential of $30-35 million per annum for the company. The global financial major selected Wipro and TCS as partners for a major outsourcing deal—in the range of $50-70 million per annum—for both the companies.

While Lehman Brothers has issued the letter of intent to Wipro, the final contract is expected to be signed during the current quarter. The entire services package from Wipro—from application development, maintenance to business process outsourcing—is expected to be roped in as part of the deal.

IBilt plans tie-up with Austrian tech firm
IBilt, the technology arm of the L M Thapar Group, is contemplating a joint venture or acquisition of equity in the Austrian engineering solution provider company, TDV. Through a stronger partnership with TDV, iBilt is also looking at strengthening its presence in the Austrian market for its other products and solutions.

Apart from Austria, iBilt is also aiming to enter the Japanese and Chinese markets later this year. The company currently offers IT solutions that address verticals including enterprise business application, IT support for infrastructure, e-governance, education and healthcare.

IBilt and TVD recently announced a partnership to sell engineering solutions with an initial focus on bridges in India.

Microsoft India Centre sets up enterprise storage division
In order to meet growing demand in the storage area network segment, Microsoft India Development Centre has set up a separate group—Enterprise Storage Division (ESD)—to develop new technologies and products in this area. This would be the second ESD after the one in its headquarters in Redmond, US.

The Indian division will work in tandem with the Redmond unit to deliver technologies ranging from Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Network (SAN).

Hitachi Data Systems charts big India plans
Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the $80 billion Hitachi Group, operating in the enterprise storage market, has decided to take an aggressive approach to develop India as its major focus market.

The company, which started its liason office in India last year, aspires to capture more than 50 percent of the high-end, and 20 percent of the medium range enterprise storage market in the next 12 months. The company has already invested around $1 million in setting up operations in the last few months and has plans to expand its operations further.

Ingenovis, CCMB in pact for database
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Ingenovis, the bioinformatics division of Srini Raju’s I-Labs, has entered into a long-term technical alliance with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to jointly develop a database—Simple Sequence Repeats Database—which would help drug companies across the world study the nature of disease-causing genes in the human body.

Ingenovis head, Satish Kumar said, “The broad objective is to combine CCMB’s biology expertise with I-Labs IT expertise to produce suitable databases and tools, which would help corporates and scientists in new drug discovery.”

— Financial Express