|
October 1-15, 1999 COUNTRY BUZZ |
|
|
COMPUTER BUSINESS SGI Servers to Support Nationwide Net Backbone
"Apart from the fact that this is an order of immense prestige, this is also the largest server contract awarded in the Internet arena in India till now," said Prasad Medury, managing director, SGI India. Some of the world's largest ISPs like AOL, GTE, Alestra and Retevision have their network backbone based on servers from SGI. The high performance I/O capabilities of Origin servers make them suited for these applications, Medury claims. "Internet, and specifically broadband Internet solutions are our core areas," he adds. Apart from the NIB project, SGI is implementing an intranet solution for OCC (Oil Coordination Committee) which is valued at Rs 2.5 crore and smaller projects for at least five other ISPs in north India. According to Medury, DOT will be using the National Internet Backbone-a network of communication links that are capable of transporting large volumes of information at fast speeds-to offer a complete suite of Internet services to its customers. Though the consortium has been asked to implement 'quality of service' technologies on the network, providing guaranteed service level agreements will still lie with the DOT. DOT has already reached an agreement with America Online (AOL)/Netscape Communications to offer messaging/E-mail solutions to 300,000 users initially. DOT will also be offering FTP, Proxy, Telnet, Web serving, Web hosting and enterprise communications solutions through this initiative. DOT will be operating Category A and Category B ISP licenses in 45 cities across the country. Phase II of the NIB project will extend this service to 60 more cities/towns, essentially Category C type ISP licenses. Altogether 31 cities in the network will feature either RAC concentrators (devices where Internet links from multiple users aggregate before travelling further down the network) or stacks of routers (devices that direct Internet traffic to its destination). The rest 14 cities will be serviced by POP (Point-of-Presence) servers. POP servers provide a local point of Internet service offering a better and faster Internet access and service. Apart from acting as an ISP, DOT will also use NIB to provide convenient and easy access points to other service providers and corporates by leasing virtual private networks (VPN) for commercial and business use. International gateways which connect to other Internet networks are also in the offing, according to officials. Wipro, KPN Telecom Plan JV for Net Services
Anand Talwai, chief executive of the newly formed joint ventures, said that Wipro Net will be an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and will give connections for Internet access. It will offer all types of E-commerce solutions and consultancy connected to the Internet. The present paid-up capital of WiproNet is Rs 15 crore, comprising about Rs 1.5 crore equity shares of Rs 10. KPN will hold 45 percent stake in Wipro Net by purchasing about Rs 29 lakh equity shares and 71 lakh shares in the fresh equity issue. Wipro has a licence to establish, operate and offer Internet services in the country. Now, it has applied to DOT for assigning the ISP licence on Wipro Net's favour. Officials said the company is in advanced stage of putting together the infrastructure and systems for starting services. NIIT Rides E-commerce Wave to Grow Globally
The strategy will build upon the success of the first phase of globalisation which started in 1992 with NIIT's first subsidiary in the US. In the first seven years of its globalisation, NIIT's global revenues have recorded exponential growth. Between 1992 and 1999, NIIT's global revenues have increased from about 7 percent to nearly half its revenues. NIIT founder and executive chairman, Rajendra S. Pawar says, "As part of the next globalisation phase, NIIT is organising directors on its board close to NIIT customers in important cities. The extension of our geocentricity concept will ultimately go towards operationalising a 'global board'. The Internet, teleconferencing and virtual team experience of NIIT will allow us to move this concept forward." Already two of the five full-time directors of NIIT are operating from outside India. NIIT has an eight-member board including chairman and two external directors. The company operates in over 30 countries with wholly owned subsidiaries and three joint ventures. To implement this strategy, NIIT had posted one of the five working board members, Gopal Chakravarthy in Europe in mid-1998. HCL Technologies To Float IPO for Acquisitions HCL Technologies Ltd, a leading IT services company with a comprehensive services portfolio addressing all major segments of the IT market, is planning to make an initial public offering (IPO) within the next six months. Officials said the aim is to list the company in India and raise funds for future growth. The company, which has lined up the public issue factor "to find a currency" for themselves, will float a fresh book-building exercise to sell 1.4 crore shares, according to Vineet Nayyar, vice chairman, HCL Technologies. Acer Opens Indian Subsidiary in Bangalore Acer Computer International Ltd has announced the incorporation of its Indian subsidiary. The company, Acer India (Pvt.) Ltd will be Bangalore-based. Acer got its Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance in July last to set up a fully-owned subsidiary for manufacturing and marketing the Acer brand of PC products in India. Acer India's immediate focus is to consolidate its sales, marketing and support initiatives for the Acer brand of PCs, notebooks, servers and home PCs. It offers a complete line of PC products, from desktops, servers to notebooks, with new product introductions positioned most attractively. "With a current installed base of over 1,25,000 Acer computers in the country today, India to Acer offers an accessible, potential market. We will strive to make Acer a leading PC brand in India," said Arun Sinha, managing director, Acer India. Acer India's efforts to consolidate its multi-distribution channel has resulted in the finalisation of channel partnerships with Thakral Computers Ltd and Unison Technologies, in addition to its existing distribution partner, Wipro. Thakral Computers is a national level distributor, which has a strong channel engagement with over 250 resellers in 16 cities. Acer products will now be available to a wider market segment with an emphasis on the SME (small and medium enterprise) segment. Unison Technologies will essentially play the role of a regional distributor in the whole of north India with an engagement of about 50 resellers spread across the 5 northern states. MS Expands India SW Operations
Telstra V-Comm to Set up VSAT for ONGC
Good 1st Quarter for PC Market, says IDC India According to IDC (India)'s PC tracking program, the Indian PC market showed a healthy growth in the first quarter of fiscal 1999-00. Shipments of PCs recorded a growth of 40 percent in unit terms and 50 percent in value terms over April-May-June (AMJ) 1998. A total 2,30,133 PCs were shipped in AMJ 1999 for Rs 1,191 crore. Amongst the various form factors, desktop PCs grew commensurate with the market growth. PC servers grew a robust 58 percent in unit terms. The Notebook market showed good growth after remaining constrained for most of 1998-99. IBM and Compaq made this growth in the Notebook market possible by aggressive marketing. Compared to AMJ 1998, 37 percent more Notebook PCs were shipped in AMJ 1999. Home, small business and small office segments continued to be the growth engines for the PC market. The Home segment grew by 78 percent with shipments touching 66,000 units. The home segment now takes a larger share of the total market-29 percent compared to 23 percent in AMJ 1998. Realising the segment's importance, multinational vendors such as Compaq and Hewlett-Packard launched affordable Home PCs in AMJ 1999. Compaq (8.6 percent share) was the market leader in terms of number of PCs sold. |
|
Issue Contents Write to us Subscriptions Syndication INDIA
TODAY | BUSINESS
TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | TEENS TODAY © Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
The Government is at last getting serious about
spreading Internet usage, it seems. Towards setting up of a scalable and secure
infrastructure in India, SGI India has announced bagging the first phase order for the
supply of servers for the National Internet Backbone (NIB) project being implemented by
the Department of Telecommunications (DOT). SGI was part of a consortium led by Crompton
Greaves, which was awarded the contract. The server component of this contract has gone
exclusively to SGI and it includes 52 SGI Origin 200 and four SGI Origin 2000 servers
valued at approximately Rs 10 crore. The servers will be installed at various locations
across the country. 
The $8-billion
Dutch telecom giant KPN Telecom BV has unveiled plans to set up a joint venture with Wipro
Corporation Ltd to provide Internet services in the country. The joint venture will be
through Wipro Net in which Wipro will have 55 percent equity and KPN will hold the
remaining 45 percent equity. 
NIIT Ltd, that derives almost half of its $160 million global revenues
through its 19 overseas subsidiaries in Asia, Europe and the US, has unveiled the next
phase of its globalisation strategy. The objective is to step up overseas growth through
successful launch of E-Commerce-based software products and solutions in the global
market. 
The Microsoft
India Development centre in Hyderabad plans to double its operations in this financial
year. Established in August last year with a start-up team of 40 people, it aims to
further expand the team to over 200 members by the end of the next financial year. Says
Srini Koppolu, general managerof the centre: "Our initial challenge was to create
world-class infrastructure and to attract the best talent in the industry. The work done
here is a testament to the high quality of the people we hired so far and their commitment
to developing quality products."
Notwithstanding the major handicaps for the domestic VSAT industry, VSAT
service operators continue to put up a impressive performance. Telstra V-Comm, a joint
venture of Telstra Corporation of Australia, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) and
Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), has been awarded a major
order worth Rs 15 crore by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Commission Ltd (ONGC) for
setting up a VSAT-based communications network that will link its offices throughout the
country for voice and high-speed data. "We bagged the order to set up the largest
captive DAMA (demand assigned multiple access) network in India amidst stiff
competition," said Telstra managing director Abu Shafquat. "The Rs 15-crore
order based on DATA VSAT technology will connect 21 locations across the country. Eight
existing ONGC locations will be augmented and 13 new earth stations will be set up,"
he added. The company is also in talks with a PSUs including Indian Oil and Gas Authority
of India.
