Corporate

Investment in MPLS

Tulip IT Services said it has invested Rs 180 crore to set up India's
largest MPLS-enabled Internet protocol virtual private network. The Tata network
covers over 300 Indian cities and is the only one in India to offer last mile
data connectivity entirely on wireless, it said.

iGate Hires From Dindigul

iGATE is to hire over 100 IT professionals from Dindigul, a small town in
Tamil Nadu. iGate said it would hire professionals through campus recruitment
from engineering colleges, in and around Dindigul, for its software development
facility in Chennai. V Viswanathan, assistant vice-president of IT Solutions at
iGATE, Chennai, said: “Tamil Nadu ensures adequate supply of high-quality
technical resources.”

Freescale Expands

Freescale Semiconductor is expanding its India operations with the
acquisition of a campus in Noida. The company plans to expand its presence to
1,500 engineers in India over the next four years to support Freescale's
global research and development efforts. Ganesh Guruswamy, India country manager
and director, Freescale Semiconductor India said, “This campus gives us room
to triple our presence in India by 2010.”

Tibco Reports Q1 Results

Tibco Software has announced results for its first fiscal quarter that ended
March 5, 2006. Total revenues for the first quarter were $114.6 mn. License
revenues for the first quarter were $48.1 mn. Net income for the Q1, on a
generally accepted accounting principles basis, was $5.6 mn on a fully diluted
basis and includes stock-based compensation expense of $4.6 mn due to the
implementation of SFAS 123(R). 

Virsa to Double Global Headcount  

Virsa Systems has announced that it is planning to double its headcount in
2006. As part of this aggressive growth strategy, Virsa continued its
international expansion by opening a new office at the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh
Technology Park in Chandigarh. “Currently, we have more than 40 employees in
India focused on engineering, customer support and QA. For 2006 we plan to
double global headcount to more than 400 employees. A good portion of that
growth will come from the Chandigarh office,” said founder and CEO of Virsa
Systems Jasvir Gill.

S1 Expands in Pune  

S1 Corporation has opened its facility in Pune. The new premise has a total
seating capacity of 550. The company is currently 400- people strong in Pune.
The company in a press release said that S1 India represents nearly 30% of
S1's global team and is a vital part of the organization. In February the
company had released Forex product, which was completely built out of India.

NEC to Set Up India Office  

Japan-based NEC has plans to float a new company in India to expand its
IT/network business in the Indian IT market. Tentatively named NEC India, the
new company is scheduled to start operations very soon. The $1 mn new company
will provide IT/network solutions and wireless systems, besides selling
mass-market IT products. The company also has plans to open branches in other
Indian cities as well.

Lawful Interception

ClearTrail Technologies has announced its foray into lawful interception
products and solutions for the Indian market. Having been involved in this field
for over five years, and after having successfully worked with clients in Europe
and the Middle East, ClearTrail is now entering the Indian market with its suite
of products for specific requirements for this part of the globe. 

nVIDIA to Invest $250mn

Programmable graphics technologies major nVIDIA is planning to invest $250
mn for its operations in India and to double its Indian workforce. nVIDIA opened
its first development center in India at Bangalore last year and has now set up
another center in Pune, by taking over city-based Pace Software.

Xentis Targets Rs 1,000 cr 

Xenitis Group is targeting revenue of Rs 1,000 crore in the next financial
year. The company expects to close FY 2005-06 with revenue of more than Rs 500
crore. It also has plans to come out with an IPO of Rs 250 crore in
July—August 2006 to finance expansion activities of its IT arm. The details of
thr investement plan was given by Xenitis Infotech MD Taghagatha Datta.

WEF Global IT Survey  

India has been ranked 40 on the Global Information Technology report
2005-'06's Networked Readiness Index. The report, which covered 115
countries, assesses the impact of information and communication technology (ICT)
on the development process and the competitiveness of nations. The United States
topped the rankings of for the third time in five years while Singapore was
ranked second in the survey. Networked Readiness Index (NRI) is the degree of
preparedness of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT
developments.

Center of Excellence

iGate Global Solutions launched an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Centre
of Excellence (CoE) in Hyderabad at its software development facility. The CoE
will concentrate on iGate's thriving areas such as System Integration,
Business Intelligence and ERP testing to create solutions and frameworks to be
leveraged by the company's clients.

GalaxE.Solutions Expands its India Operations

GalaxE.Solutions has expanded its India operations with launch of its third
development center at ITPL, Bangalore. GalaxE.Solutions is set to transfer
significant high-value work to Bangalore and Toronto. This includes Service
Oriented Architecture, Service Level Management related Solution Development
work, which traditionally would have been done at the customers' premises.
GalaxE Solutions also announced there will be an increase in headcount by 100%
in Bangalore to form a ratio of 1:3 for the on-site /off-shore mix. The company
currently employs over 100 employees at its development centers here.

SGS Becomes Société Générale Global

Bangalore-based SG Software(SGS) Asia has announced its name change to
“Société Générale Global Solution Centre”. This reflects its expanded
service offerings and business lines. SG Software was established in ITPL,
Bangalore in 2000, primarily catering to the financial software, R&D, IT
consulting and project management needs of the Société Générale Corporate
and Investment Banking Division.

Meta-I Unveils iGuage Online

Assessment firm Meta-I has launched iGuage online Assesment center, designed
to provide a simple and secure pre-recruitment testing environment. The testing
centers are equipped with close circuit cameras to monitor the examination and
Web cameras on every system to capture the image of the candidate undertaking
the test ensuring security and curbing malpractice. Candidate will be recorded
on the biometric access control system to ensure access to the testing area is
available only to the registered candidates. The centers are equipped to handle
about 250 tests a day.

ECS Opens ODC  

Enterprises Computing Services (ECS) has opened its offshore development
center (ODC) in Mumbai. The new ODC model allows ECS to offer its high quality
software development services at even lower costs, making IT outsourcing a
critical management tool essential to improving return on investment.

Digital Content

The Essel group has launched a digital company-Digital Media Convergence (DMCL)
to facilitate the availability of digital content in the country. Explaining the
need to launch a digital company, Subhash Chandra, chairman of the group, said,
“As a content aggregator, we must be ready to deliver content across all
emerging digital platforms in a seamless manner.”  

Innovation Center

Symantec has inaugurated its new research and development center at Baner in
Pune. According to a Symantec statement, “The first phase of the facility has
the capacity for approximately 650 technical staff and engineers from
Symantec's R&D, IT, and technical support teams in India.” The second
phase is due to be completed by the end of the year.

20,000-strong Dell India

Dell has announced that it would increase its headcount in India to 20,000
from the present 10,000 in a span of three years. “We have big plans in terms
of R&D investment and also expanding our customer contact centers in
India,” said Michael Dell, chairman, Dell. He added that the strength of the
engineering team in Bangalore would be upped from 300 to 600 in a year's time.

Remote Center for Aviva

Wipro Technologies has said that is has recently opened a dedicated Global
Command Centre for the UK insurance giant Aviva at Pune. Set up with significant
investments in new generation technology, this remote managed infrastructure
management center will provide 24x7 remote managed services for the entire IT
infrastructure of RAC, a business division of Aviva. This was said by Wipro in a
notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

eInfochips to Invest $10m  

Having set its sights on the Japanese market, Ahmedabad-based
eInfochips, provider of silicon design, embedded systems and software services,
is planning to expand its India operations. The company is planning to set up
campuses in Ahmedabad and Pune and invest $8 mn-$10 mn in the next three years.

Software Testing Facility

ReadyTestGo (RTG) and part of the CSS Group, has announced the expansion of
its offshore operations in India. As part of this expansion, RTG has set up its
second software testing facility in Chennai. The company plans to hire 150
software engineers.