CORPORATE

Yos Gets $1.25 mn Funding


Bangalore-based Yos Technologies has announced that it has secured its first
round of funding to the tune of $1.25 mn from Rajesh Jain, well-known
entrepreneur and technologist and Dr Aniruddha Malpani, a leading consultant
infertility specialist, and a pioneer in Patient Health Education.

Actis to Appoint Dealers

Actis Technologies, a leading audio visual and environment control solutions
provider in India has announced its channel expansion plans for 2007-08 at
Actis's Second Annual Dealer Meet. Actis plans to appoint 250 new dealers in the
current fiscal year.

Lenovo Back in Black

Lenovo Group, the world's third-biggest personal computer maker, returned to
profit in the fourth quarter after cutting jobs and winning market share in Asia
from Hewlett Packard and Dell. Net income was $60.1 mn in the three months ended
March 31, compared with a $116 mn loss a year earlier that included a $70 mn
restructuring charge.

PNB's Plans for IT


Punjab National Bank (PNB), a notable member of the pioneer club on Indian
PSU landscape for IT, has forked in new IT servings on its plate with a corpus
of Rs 120 crore. These new IT deployments entail pan-India branch networking.

QuEST Gets Approval



QuEST, a leading engineering services company offering end-to-end product
development and engineering solutions, has announced that it has received Airbus
design approval and AS9100 certification. With this, QuEST can work on upcoming
Airbus programs such as the A350.

Adobe Shifts Focus


Technology products company Adobe has initiated efforts to spread its reach
to seventy cities by the end of this year with focus on animation and
publishing. The company hinted at the launch of a new product suite that works
with both Mac and Intel platforms for online publishers.

Samsung to Hire More


AS IT shifts major global research and development activities to India,
Korean consumer electronics major Samsung has said it would hire about 700 R&D
software engineers for its center at Noida.

Invensys' Investment Plan

Technology and automation solutions provider Invensys Plc is set to invest
$20 mn in consolidation and expansion of its operations at its India development
centre based in Hyderabad. Earlier this year, strengthened operations by
bringing two of its other centers into the Hyderabad facility located at the
Vanenberg IT Park.

Patni's Consulting Service



Patni Computer Systems has formed a new consulting services practice within
its manufacturing business unit. The new practice will offer manufacturers
solutions designed to improve business performance and corporate competitiveness
through strategies, processes and tools.

IBM Earnings Up

The world's largest tech consulting services firm International Business
Machines grew slower by revenues in 2006, even as rivals Electronic Data Systems
and Accenture continued to grow their revenues higher than industry growth
rates, analyst firm Gartner said.

Anantara Gets $6.5 mn Funding



Anantara Solutions, an IT services and outsourcing company, has announced the
closing of its `Series A' financing of $6.5 mn from a syndicate led by Helion
Venture Partners. Helion is the lead investor in Anantara, along with other
prestigious investors, including Walden International, SVB Financial Group and
Christian Wedell, a former senior Microsoft executive and venture capitalist.

iGATE in WEF's GGC



iGATE Global Solutions has been invited as a member of the World Economic
Forum's (WEF) Community of global growth companies (GGC). iGATE has been
identified as one of the GGC for demonstrating a clear potential in becoming a
leader in the global economy, based on parameters such as its business model,
growth record, leadership and the markets it serves, the company said in a press
release.

CIPSA-RIC to Invest $10 mn



CIPSA-RIC, a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, plans to invest $10 mn
in expanding its production capacity by four times to 40,000 square per meter
per month. The company's third plant will be ready for operation near Bangalore
by March 2008, CIPSA said.

Bartronics Commissions Smartcard Facility



Bartronics India has announced the commissioning of its new smartcards
manufacturing facility-the first of its kind in India-set up about 40 km outside
Hyderabad. It marks the completion of the first phase of an ambitious Rs 270
crore expansion plan. The facility opens up the smartcards technology area as a
business segment for the company.

Capgemini Eyes a Slice of the Outsourcing Market


European consulting major Capgemini has joined the list of multinational IT
firms aspiring to capture a slice of the domestic IT outsourcing market. The
company is plannig to target the domestic market next month that will review and
identify the key verticals in this space and determine how much manpower should
be assigned to them, based on their potential, according to Capgemini India
executive chairman Salil Parekh.

eSys to Invest Rs 1,000 Cr in India


Singapore-based $2.1 bn IT component major eSys Technologies, with worldwide
back office operations is investing Rs 1,000 crore in India. This includes a Rs
250 crore investment in setting up a PC manufacturing plant at Nalagarh,
Himachal Pradesh with an annual capacity of 1.2 mn units and another Rs 100
crore in global back-office operations in Chandigarh.

Moser Baer Develops High-Speed Blu-ray Disc


Moser Baer India has developed a high-speed Blu-ray disc that would double
the speed of recording data. The company said that the product was developed in
collaboration with OM&T, the R&D arm of Philips, in which it acquired 80% stake
in March this year. However, sources said that since the market for Blu-ray disc
in India is at a nascent stage, Moser Baer would be manufacturing it primarily
to address the global market.