Logix ties-up with Yahoo! Autos

Circuit EC / Bangalore

Bangalore-based Logix Microsystems has entered into a three-year strategic tie-up with Yahoo Inc. US automobile shopping division, Yahoo! Autos. Yahoo! Autos will now be powered by Logix Microsystems’ flagship product, izmocars. Apart from Yahoo! Autos, over 200 automobile dealers in the US have adopted izmocars as their Internet business solution. Logix wants to acquire 200 additional customers in 2004 in the US and is also attempting to win other portals over with izmocars. izmocars’ animation technology lets car buyers see 360-degree virtual tours of interior and exterior views of over 500 vehicles.

Sanjay Soni, managing director of Logix Microsystems said, “Logix is transitioning from a services to a products company. We have an R&D centre in Bangalore, which has about 60 people carrying out product development work. More than 40 man-years of development effort has gone into our latest range of products. We have photographed and animated more than 700 cars in the last two years. There are more than 100 photographs per car, which translates into 70,000 photos. izmocars has the largest database of car animations in the world today.”

For now, Logix Microsys-tems will concentrate only on Western markets as it feels that the Indian market has not matured to the same extent. However Logix has a long way to go as far as tapping the huge US automobile market is concerned. There are more than 28,000 car dealers in the US and Logix Microsystems has 200-plus car dealers as its customers.

Besides izmocars, Logix Microsystems has also come up with other products, which include izmoflix, a sales enhancement and lead generation tool; izmomail, an interactive customer communication tool; izmotrak, a customer response tracking solution and izmoweb, a custom design website.