Nucleus bags $250,000 order from Oman firm
Nucleus Software Exports, a global provider of integrated software products for banks and financial institutions, has announced that it has bagged an order worth $250,000 from United Finance Company, Oman, Muscat. Nucleus has been contracted to deploy FinnOne Corporate Retail lending.

IT exports to clock 32.5 percent growth rate, says ESC
Indian exports of IT products, including computer software and IT-enabled services (ITES) are likely to grow at the rate of 32.5 percent to achieve the target figure of $50 billion by 2008, according to Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC). According to a release, ESC chairman Deepak Puri, while making a presentation to the ministry of commerce said the target is achievable in view of the steady growth in exports to the US.

Sify to deploy e-learning solutions for corporates
As part of its consultancy initiatives, Satyam Infoway is now deploying a host of e-learning solutions for various Indian corporates. With this, the company seeks to leverage e-learning as a part of employee development initiatives amongst its corporate clients. The entire initiative will therefore start with standard learning content in specific topics (IT skills and soft skills), and once usage picks up, the organisation will look at basic administrative platoforms like Learning Management Systems.

IT offtake all set for take-off: India to up spends by 24 percent
IT spending in India, which includes spending on hardware, software and imports, is likely to rise by 24 percent to $15.5 billion in the fiscal ending March 2003 from $12.5 billion last fiscal, according to Nasscom. “The government sector is spending heavily this year on IT compared to previous years,” said Nasscom vice president Sunil Mehta. The other strong IT spenders include sectors like the banks, finance services and insurance (BFSI) and telecommunication. BFSI, telecom and the government contribute over 55 percent to the total IT spending in the country. Other sectors like retail and utilities have also become active but still do not contribute significantly to the total IT spending in the country, Mehta added.

Tata Teleservices unveils its national brand
Launching the last leg of its national roll out, Tata Teleservies (TTSL) unveiled its national brand, TATA Indicom, in Delhi. The company will be providing basic services to four new circles i.e., Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi. Citizens of Delhi will get now get landline, fixed wireless & CDMA mobile services. The group chairman Ratan Tata said, “This inauguration marks the completion of the first phase of the plan in basic services and takes the group closer to its objective of offering best in class service and complete telecom solutions to its customers.” Backed by a world-class customer service interface, TTSL’s product offerings would in a phased manner include CDMA mobile, fixed wireless, wireline and data services including ISDN, DSL, virtual private networks and a host of integrated telecom solutions.

Sybase bags Gold Performer award
Sybase, the enterprise infrastructure and integration company, announced that Sybase's e-Biz Integrator is selected
as a Gold Performer in the e-Business Application Connectivity/Integrator category of ACW (Asia Computer Weekly) Annual Reader's Choice Awards 2002. CMP Group's ACW is the number one regional IT weekly publication in Asia Pacific. In the ACW Readers’ Choice Awards 2002 issue, ACW presented the ‘A’ list of 150 winning IT products and services, based on the popularity with their readers.

ANZ assessed at CMM Level 5
ANZ Information Technology (ANZIT), a fully-owned subsidiary of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), has been assessed to be at CMM Level 5. Global Systems Technology USA, a SEI-authorised lead appraiser, performed the appraisal. ANZ IT reached CMM Level 5 at the end of an extensive work after being assessed to be at CMM Level 4 last December. Says S Sunderarajan, managing director, ANZ IT, “We achieved significant milestones on the way to CMM Level 5—our productivity increased 50 percent, time-to-market reduced 60 percent and delivery of large complex projects were well within budgets. We also noticed a significant improvement in the ability to enhance our internal IP products and knowledge rapidly into commercial products that show high value in external markets.”

Adexa and MindTree to deliver SCM Solutions
Adexa and MindTree Consulting recently announced a strategic alliance to collaborate on consulting and implementing solutions for supply chain management. The solutions developed will enable Indian companies to move on to a higher level of supply chain optimisation, which is expected to give their customers quality products and services at lower costs. In order to provide a focal point for development and deployment of these solutions, MindTree and Adexa shall jointly develop specialised skills to be deployed in key market sectors such as manufacturing, retail, FMCG, textile and hi-tech industries. Adexa and MindTree’s joint value proposition to the Indian customer is in offering an affordable, software product-cum-service encompassing supply chain assessment, design and deployment.

BSE merges separate networks using Nortel’s Solution
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has upgraded its trading network by merging three previously separate networks into one core backbone based on an Ethernet switch solution from Nortel Networks. By combining its networks into one, BSE is now positioned to provide faster, more reliable and more secure services to brokers over a more efficient, more manageable and more cost-effective network. Nortel Networks helped BSE merge its LAN, WAN and VSAT into one core backbone based on Nortel Networks Passport 8600 Ethernet Switch. This new merged network connects approximately 3,000 WAN routers to make multiple applications readily available to more than 10,000 trader workstations in one of the most demanding online trading environments in the world. Nortel’s Passport 8600 provides reliability, scalability, and manageability, as well as the full-multicast functionality required by modern-day trading rooms. Multicast technology is a key component of the scalable migration path designed by Nortel and assists the exchange’s online trading application, whose software is currently broadcast-oriented.

Vismaya associates with Intel to develop DCL solution
Vismaya Technologies has embarked on a project to develop a Digital Call Logger (DCL), a critical component for contact centres based on Intel Architecture and building blocks. Intel will supply Vismaya their Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) building blocks and provide its Solution Lab Services to test and certify the solution. Currently under development with the assistance of Nortel Networks’ infrastructure at its labs, the DCL product will enable the incoming or outgoing calls from the switch to be recorded and stored. The product, which is expected to be delivered to the market in early 2003, will have DCL features such as search and playback, Graphical User Interface, real-time monitoring, selective reporting, system security with passwords, Web-based access for recorded messages, segment voice logging, open playback via standard WAV file format, amongst others.

L&T Infotech develops instant messaging solution for Symbian
Larsen & Toubro Infotech has developed an instant messaging arena christened Wireless Village Client (WVC)—on the Symbian operating system. Wireless Village is an open industry initiative, promoted by Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola, created to develop a universal protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS). This standard facilitates multiple chat sessions and conference across different devices (mobile and desktop) and networks. A live demonstration of the client on SonyEricsson P800 smartphone was performed with Comverse Wireless Village Server in the Symbian Partner Event in London. L&T Infotech is also developing the client for Nokia 7650.

BenQ India in alliance with Godrej
BenQ India has launched plasma display monitors for the Indian market, in an effort to enhance its presence in the digital display segment. BenQ 46W1 plasma display features high illumination, enhanced digital resolution, and a body that’s wafer thin and super lightweight. It is compact and fits into any space or can be hung anywhere. BenQ India has appointed Godrej as the national distributor for the Plasma Display Monitors. Tashi Gelek, managing director-BenQ India said, “This is our initiative in offering the customer cutting-edge technology. We hope to leverage on Godrej’s extensive reach, penetration and network to market the Plasma Display Monitors.” Godrej & Boyce thus will be marketing BenQ’s Digital display segment of products and will also provide the after sales support and service through its network of service centres spread across 15 cities in the country.

Yokogawa commissions RMS facility in India
Bangalore-based Yokogawa Blue Star (YBL) has announced that it has successfully commissioned its Remote Management Support software tool (RMS) in more than 10 YBL customer locations in India within six months of its introduction. These customers, having Yokogawa’s Distributed Control Systems (DCS) installed in their plant, come from various verticals like refineries, chemicals, petro-chemicals, food, metals, etc, and include companies like Marico Industries, Kochi Refinery, GAIL, Sterlite, Finolex, etc. With this facility in place, customers are in a position to get their problems analysed and solved within a matter of a few phone calls, thus improving on the system availability and ensuring better utilisation of the Yokogawa installed DCS.

Hughes sets up VSAT network for IDRBT
Hughes Escorts Communications (HECL), has announced that Infinet (Indian Financial Network), the network owned and maintained by IDBRT (India’s first autonomous centre for development and research in Banking Technology), became India’s largest VSAT network in India, crossing more than 1300 terminals as on date. Hughes is directly responsible for installing and maintaining these terminals and the network. The applications enabled on the VSAT network included mail messaging and FTP. But with the launch of Ku-band-based Hughes DirecWay terminals, a whole range of new-world applications such as anywhere banking, electronic payment services, SFMS, PDONDS apart from ATM has now been added.

Covansys India achieves PCMM level 5 rating
Covansys has announced that its subsidiary, Covansys India, has been assessed at Level 5 of the People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM). This is the second such distinction for Covansys, which also achieved SEI-CMM Level 5 on their first assessment in 1999 for the offshore development centres in India. Both the PCMM and SEI-CMM ratings, according to company officials, are testament to Covansys’s continual improvements, and the company’s ability to meet its customer’s needs effectively and efficiently. Rajesh Naik, a SEI authorised lead assessor of QAI India, led the PCMM assessment over a period of nine days. The assessment covered all the project units and other support areas at Covansys locations in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Tecumseh to avail investment management services from ILAMC
India Life Asset Management Company (ILAMC) has announced its association with Tecumseh Products India (TPIL) to manage the provident fund of TPIL, advising its trustees on investment strategy given their risk preference, maturity horizon and current portfolio status. ILAMC’s strength lies in the domain expertise it brings along with an exhaustive track record. ILAMC is the country’s first and only SEBI licensed portfolio manager solely focused on provident and pension funds. Amit Gopal, assistant vice president ILAMC said, “ILAMC will plan and create investment strategies in line with risk and liability profiles and translate these strategies to real time investments through recurring investment advises. The value add comes from, superior execution capabilities and the ability to reap the benefits of economies of scale along with a state-of-art trading room and a dedicated government securities and institutional bond desk.”

webMethods and TCS form strategic alliance
webMethods and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have announced a strategic alliance to provide both onsite and offshore consulting services to webMethods’ global customers. TCS’s global reach, financial stability and vast integration expertise, combined with webMethods’ industry-leading integration software, is expected to enable customers to deploy webMethods solutions more efficiently and effectively. Under the terms of the agreement, TCS will name webMethods as its strategic preferred integration vendor, and webMethods will name TCS as its strategic preferred offshore delivery and development vendor. In addition, TCS will form a webMethods Centre of Excellence for internal training and development, which will be jointly staffed with TCS and webMethods personnel. TCS will also contribute to the development of webMethods’ GEAR implementation best practices methodology. This jointly developed implementation methodology will provide a comprehensive roadmap for the development and deployment of complex integration projects in a blended onsite/offshore delivery model.