Computers Today April 16-30, 2000; Circuit

April 16-30, 2000 THE CIRCUIT

Change Track to Tick On

Their dream was to provide "software solutions that keep pace with time". For Akhil Chaudhary, who along with his friend Pankaj Agarwal, both fresh engineering graduates from Delhi College of Engineering, set up Binary Semantics Ltd in 1986, it was a monumental task. The duo started with an amount of less than Rs 1 lakh, relied on their own products developed in-house and had to contend with the tag of an "upcoming company". Says Chaudhary, "We were an inexperienced lot. Our software development group provided turnkey, custom-built software solutions for a range of commercial applications." However, it was the order from fast food conglomerate Nirulas for its restaurant management system and office automation that catapulted Binary to limelight. Since then, foraying into software distribution in 1990, "we built our infrastructure across the country. The period 1991-92 was a turning point for our company and we began to provide products ranging from operating systems to diverse applications". Chaudhary has now set his sights on carving out a niche in the international market. "Our thrust area, now, will be exports," he says, adding, "we feel, it is our weak area too."

Ask Shailesh Agarwal, the channel sales manager at Adobe Systems India, his hobby and he gets excited. "High altitude trekking-having trekked up to 21,000 feet. Had been very active till some years ago." Maybe Agarwal is not getting enough leisure now as he is striving to put his company's sales of publishing software to new heights. An electrical engineer from IIT, Delhi, and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, he is responsible for Adobe's sales and marketing in India and SAARC countries. Agarwal began his career with Tata-IBM in 1993 (then TISL), when the company had just launched its operations in the country. He was with IBM till October 1998. For the better part of his stay at Tata-IBM, he was the product manager for RS/6000 family of computers, whereby he promoted and established this family of Unix servers. Later, he was the region manager, north, for small and medium business. At Adobe, he is responsible for meeting the overall revenue objective of the company's India operations, conceptualising and executing marketing initiatives/progra- mmes and establishing and supporting distribution set up. He is also responsible for setting up the Adobe products training network. Adobe is the seond largest desktop publishing software firm in the world. "My mandate is to pursue the global trend in India too," he says.

Manoranjan Mohapatra Hughes Software Systems (HSS) has announced the promotion of Manoranjan Mohapatra to the post of executive vice president and chief operating officer. Mohapatra has been with HSS since its inception in 1992. As a vice president, he was heading the business development section, including marketing, product management and sales, developing and expanding HSS' software services. Prior to this, he was the head of engineering for the cellular communication division. Before joining HSS, Mohapatra worked at the Centre for Development of Telematics, where as programme manager, he worked on the development of telephone switching technology, especially in the area of call control and call processing.

Meena Kumari has been appointed as the head, new technologies group, Aptech Ltd, and will focus on new technologies for virtual education, new media and pedagogical practices for the Web and global learning architectures. She began her career as a research assistant in the University of Pune, and has had various teaching assignments on computer science.

Nortel Networks has appointed P.K. Prakash as director, Internet solutions, for its India operations. Prakash will be responsible for building Nortel's 'carrier packet' business in India. Before joining Nortel, he was with Newbridge Networks as director, internetworking solutions marketing for the Asia Pacific region. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Roorkee and a masters degree in international business management from IIFT, New Delhi.

Stephen Graziani has been appointed as vice president, Birlasoft Inc., a subsidiary of Birlasoft Ltd, and will head the east coast operations. He will be responsible for identifying and developing core strengths in certain key technology segments for Birlasoft in the US. Graziani has over 18 years of experience in the field of information technology, especially in areas of software consulting and solutions. An MBA from the University of San Francisco, US, Graziani has intimate knowledge of the Silicon Valley market.

As director, Escorts Group, Nikhil Nanda is spearheading the group's initiative in the IT market through its newly formed subsidiary, Escosoft Ltd. "The foray into IT services is being undertaken keeping the overall growth of the group in mind," he says. An MBA from Wharton Business School, Philadelphia, US, Nanda says, "IT has become all-pervasive in today's world. The renewed focus on IT would help the Escorts group remain at the cutting edge of competition even in the emerging economy, where globalisation and E-commerce are the new mantras." As for Escosoft, which will mark the group's foray into software services, Nanda says, "The technology strategy would be around the Net. The Internet, combined with the Web, is changing the way we run businesses and think about our industries. Escosoft has already drawn up plans to tap such emerging opportunities."

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