Industry

YouTube Gets Local

YouTube, the worlds most popular online video community that allows people to
discover, watch, and share originally created content, has now officially
launched its local Indian site (www.youtube.co.in). YouTube India features a
localized homepage and search functions, allowing users to create and share
videos, discover the most popular and relevant videos in India, and connect with
other Indian and global users.

EMC to Reduce Skill Gap

Information infrastructure solutions player EMC has announced that Junior
Achievement (JA) India, a not-for-profit organization and member of Junior
Achievement (JA) Worldwide, is working with EMC India Center of Excellence to
overcome skill gaps between the Indian IT industry and fresh graduates from
colleges.

UTStarcom Bags Award

UTStarcom has been awarded a contract by United Telecoms to deliver Internet
Protocol TV (IPTV), bandwidth on demand, and Voice over IP (VoIP) services in
Goa. Upon completion, the Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GEPON)/fiber
technology network will be the first specifically designed to deliver
e-governance and triple play solutions in India.

Educomps Magikeys

Educomp has launched a software application that will allow millions of
government school students to communicate on the Web, email, chat, and write
documents in their mother tongue. MagiKeys has been developed by Israel-based
software company FTK Technologies and will be introduced in government schools
in the country in collaboration with Educomp.

TCS Arm Gains Strength

TCS Financial Solutions, a strategic business unit of Tata Consultancy Services
group, is developing an additional functionality in support of the US regulatory
compliance requirements. The unit has been investing heavily in its US
compliance financial solutions portfolio for over a 12-month period in order to
improve its competitive strength.

Arenas New Program

The global leader in animation and multimedia training, Arena Animation has
announced the launch of the brand new version of its comprehensive 2.5-year
high-end animation-training course, the Arena Animation Academy Specialist
Program 2008 (AAASP 2008), designed as a complete 3D animation career program.

Simmtronics Bags Gold

Simmtronics Semiconductors, a frontrunner among the global players in the
manufacturing and distribution of memory modules, motherboards and graphic
cards, has been felicitated with the Gold Award for its performance as the
most promising company in its domain and its globally appreciated quality
product range including Simmtronics memory modules, which are compatible with
all Intel motherboards.

FinnOne Suite Goes Live

Nucleus Software, a leading global provider of next generation software
products for banking and financial sector, has announced that FinnOne Suite has
gone live at Bussan Auto Finance India. Nucleus has implemented FinnOne Customer
Acquisition System, Loans Management System, Collections, and General Ledger
System.

Madonnas Treat for Vodafone Subscribers

As a part of a global deal between Warner Music and pop diva Madonna,
Vodafone Essar, one of Indias leading telecom service providers, will have
Madonnas new album Hard Candy exclusively available to Vodafone subscribers as
a special premier. The telecom player is offering its subscribers to download
album tracks. The initiative is a first-of-its-kind by a mobile service
provider. As days tick down to the release of the album, subscribers will get
access to a different song every day.

ASUS, Lamborghini Create Mobile Masterpiece

Two quality brands have come together to create a mobile masterpiece. ASUS
and Lamborghini are now the co-branders of the ASUS-Lamborghini ZX1 PDA phone.
Just like a car, the PDA phone looks well-crafted, and promises to be
uncompromising in materials as well as features to give the masculine owner
access to powerful mobile performance.

Seagate to Preserve Traditional Crafts Forms

Seagate Technology has announced its support to a unique program to help
digitally preserve and maintain the dying traditional crafts forms in the Kutch
region of Gujarat. The project would involve the extensive digitization of
images, documents, instructions and other items to preserve the techniques,
processes, materials, designs, and motifs used in the textile traditions of
Kutch. The program is being administered by Kala Raksha, a non-government
organization.

BAE to Build Robots

BAE Systems is all geared up to lead a team of scientists that will develop
miniature robots to improve military situational awareness. The company signed a
$38 mn agreement with the US Army Research Laboratory to lead an alliance of
researchers and scientists from the Army, academia and industry.

BTs TelePresence

BT recently performed a groundbreaking demonstration highlighting
inter-company TelePresence connectivity at the Cisco Expo 2008 in Berlin,
Germany. It was also said at the occasion that BT would have global
business-to-business services available to customers by September 2008.

The demonstration showcased a life-size TelePresence call between the
headquarters of the Media-Saturn Group, a BT client, in Ingolstadt, Germany, and
Wolfgang Lux, MD Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH, who was located at the Cisco Expo
presentation forum in the Estrel convention center, Berlin, Germany.

Infogain Supports Compiere

Infogain, a leading provider in CRM, ERP, integration and business intelligence
solutions and services, has announced an expanded services partnership with
California-based Compiere that is active in the open source ERP and CRM space.
Under the partnership, Infogain will provide operational support to Compiere,
thus, delivering more value through collaboration. Infogains expertise in ERP
and Open Source is expected to be a strategic fit for Compiere, considered to be
a leader in open source business solutions.

HP, Karnataka Partnership Meets Success

The technology partnership between the Government of Karnataka (GoK) and
Hewlett-Packard (HP) to power a key e-Procurement initiative has met with
increased adoption among the contractor community, making this initiative one of
the most successful PPP (public private partnership) implementations in the
country today. The following departments of the GoK have adopted the HP-enabled
e-Procurement platform successfully: Public Works, Ports and IWT Dept (PWD);
Sarvasiksha Abhigyan (SSA); Karnataka Drug Logistics Warehousing Society (KDLWS);
Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigama (KBJNL); and Center for e-Governance (CEG).

i-flex solutions, a leading provider of IT solutions to the global financial
services industry, has declared its results for the quarter and financial year
ended March 31, 2008. The company posted a top line growth of 8% q-o-q with
revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 at Rs 672 crore as compared to Rs
601 crore for the corresponding quarter during the previous year representing a
12% y-o-y growth. The net income for the quarter stood at Rs 185 crore
representing 73% growth q-o-q. The board of directors, however, has not
recommended any dividend this financial year.

India Launches Website on Water, Sanitation

The Government of India has launched the Central Public Health and
Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) website to provide requisite
information to people related to urban water supply and sanitation. Launching
the website, Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran said that it would
greatly help in sensitizing the states and cities in the context of ongoing
programs under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The
pilot project, developed by NIC, was started in 1988-89 to put in place an MIS
on urban water supply and sanitation sector with the help of WHO.