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Briefs
The government said that the future course of action in the case
of Media Lab Asia, the joint venture between the department of IT
(DIT) and MIT of US, would be decided by the Cabinet while ruling
out closing down the research project. “The draft Cabinet paper
has already been prepared by the department and I hope the Cabinet
would find time to deliberate on it soon,” Arun Shourie, minister
for IT and communications said. He, however, said Media Lab Asia
is certainly not being shut but it would be restructured.
“Whether it is going to be an
exclusive relationship with MIT or anybody, how much private funding
is going to be available, greater participation in decision-making
for people who will be doing or directing the research, the staff
of Media Lab Asia, in all these areas there would be restructuring,”
he said.
Satyam Computer Services (SCSL) has become the first software company
from India to launch a Malaysia global solutions centre in Cyberjaya
on Monday. The company entered into a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with Microsoft (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd on Monday to work together
to create world-class IT outsourcing capability to address the needs
of large corporations and government agencies in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The collaboration envisages Satyam
working with Microsoft in key industry verticals such as government,
banking and financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail
and distribution and logistics. This is likely to lead to the creation
of over 200 Microsoft certified developers in the next 24 months
for the Satyam centre in Malaysia.
B S SRINIVASALU REDDY / Mumbai
US-based financial services IT company,
Kanbay International, is set to expand its presence in the country
by setting up an offsite delivery centre in Bangalore housing 700
employees, with an outlay of Rs 25 crore. Kanbay has an offsite
delivery centre in Pune.
The company has already got commitments
for contracts worth $30 million in BPO business. India is still
the best location for setting up BPO operations due to its cost
and skill-set advantages, Ramakrishnan added.
Discreet, a division of Autodesk Inc. has said that it had recorded
a significant increase in HDTV programming being finished on its
systems over the last twelve months. A recent sample of its worldwide
HD client base revealed that many had seen substantial increases
in demand for HDTV programming, a trend reinforced by a similar
increase in the number of HDTV-capable systems being purchased from
Discreet.
Pankaj Kedia, regional manager-South
Asia, Discreet says that the company has witnessed considerable
increase in the adoption of the HD format for commercials, documentaries,
theatrical trailers and digital film projection within India over
the last 12-18 months. Within the last 12 months, about six post-production
facilities in India have installed multiple Discreet HD systems,
including inferno, flame, fire and smoke. The HD format offers users
the highest quality levels within the shortest turnaround time,
he said.
Network Magazine India, along with network anti-virus and Internet
content solutions provider Trend Micro, will host an exclusive forum
on protection strategies for enterprises.
Titled ‘Enterprise Protection
Strategies 2003’, the forum is a platform for CIOs, CTOs, IT
managers, and technology leaders of Indian enterprises. It will
be held in four cities: Mumbai on May 6, 2003, Delhi on May 8, 2003,
Bangalore on May 14, 2003, and Chennai on May 16, 2003.
‘Enterprise Protection Strategies
2003’ (EPS 2003) presents a novel way to secure enterprises
through a proactive and integrated approach called outbreak cycle
management, which will focus on virus outbreak prevention and post-outbreak
cleanup instead of pure file and e-mail scanning.
The highlights of EPS 2003 are:
- Virus evolutions, security threats,
and outlook for 2003
- Strategy vs products
- Proactive outbreak lifecycle management
- Technology roadmap for a secure
enterprise future
- EPS at work
The speakers at the event include experts
from the British Standard Institution, Trend Micro’s regional
director for the Overseas Business Unit Goh Chee Hoh, and country
sales manager for India, Niraj Kaushik.
HCL Technologies posted a 54 percent drop in net income to Rs 60.35
crore for the third quarter ended March 31.
The company's revenues for Q3, however, posted a 14 percent rise
to Rs 465.8 crore on a year-on-year basis.
The company announced a 100 percent interim dividend.
The company added 26 new customers
in Q3. While revenues from the non-organic initiatives grew 4 percent
sequentially, organic software revenue fell 5.2 percent. However,
non-organic initiatives contributed 25 percent of Q3 revenue. A
total of 1,344 employees were added in the third quarter.
Aftek Infosys has posted a net income of Rs 24.02 crore for the
third quarter ended March 2003, registering a growth of 49 percent
as compared to Rs 16.13 crore for the corresponding quarter of the
previous year. During the same quarter, net profit stood at Rs 10.87
crore, registering a growth of 20 percent from Rs 9.07 crore.
For the nine months ended March 2003,
net income stood at Rs 66.06 crore, registering a growth of 46 percent
as compared to Rs 45.17 crore in the nine months of the previous
year. Net profit has risen by 23 percent to Rs 30.92 crore from
Rs 25.11 crore during the same period. On a sequential basis too,
net profit has increased by 10 percent Aftek Infosys chairman Ranjit
Dhurun said that performance during the year has been the result
of a good mix of product and services businesses coupled with a
sound business strategy. While the products business is expected
to improve in line with the recovery in the US, the German investment
and the proposed venture into the high-growth mobile communications
space will boost income from the services business.
— The Financial Express
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