Industry

The Strongest Biz Brand



Independent brand arbiter, Superbrands India has declared Sun Microsystems

India the strongest business brand in India. Sun Microsystems India received the

fete following two evaluation processes. Professional marketers and

industry-relevant audiences scored the first part of the study. A panel of

eminent business leaders, called the Superbrands Council, then evaluated those

who survived the first round.

Award for F5 Networks



F5 Networks has bagged the Application Networking Vendor of the Year Award

at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards held in Singapore. The

awards recognise outstanding performance and leadership by companies within the

ICT industry in Asia Pacific that have made the most significant impact on the

market in 2007.

HYSEA to Focus on SMEs



The agenda for the following couple of years for Hyderabad Software

Exporters Association (HYSEA) would look at the small and medium sized IT

companies. We realize that it is a tough time for IT growth, especially for

small and mid-sized companies. We will take a number of initiatives with this in

mind, said Narasimha Rao, president, HYSEA and VP for the Hyderabad center of

Infosys.

Nutek Gets Nod for IPO



Nutek India, a telecom infrastructure service provider offering infrastructure
rollout solutions for both mobile and fixed telecommunication networks, has

received SEBIs nod for entering the capital market with its IPO through the

book-building route. The public issue of 4,500,000 equity shares consisting of a

fresh issue of 3,500,000 equity shares.

Providence to Invest $640 mn in ABTL



Providence Equity Partners will invest $640 mn in Aditya Birla Telecom (ABTL),

a wholly owned subsidiary of Idea Cellular. ABTL, a wireless communications

company, will use the fund for network rollout and ongoing operations. The

transaction, which is expected to close by August, is subject to regulatory

approvals. DSP Merrill Lynch acted as the financial adviser to Idea on the

transaction.

Indian Firms Seek Incentives from Data Centers



A majority of Indian companies believe that power utilities should provide

an incentive on net savings achieved on power consumption in data centers, says

a Green IT survey conducted by storage and data management solutions NetApp.

Delhi-based companies see this as most important, with 77% wanting 10% or more

of the power consumption savings as incentives. Mumbai follows with 66% followed

by Bangalore with 62%.

Google Beats Yahoo!, Microsoft



Continuing its dominance in the online search market, Google increased its

share of US Internet search traffic drawing 61.6% of all queries in April

compared to 59.8% in March, according to researcher ComScore. Interestingly, the

search traffic of both Yahoo! and Microsoft have come down. While Yahoo! fielded

20.4% of searches, down from 21.3%, Microsofts share came down to 9.1% from

9.4%.

Web 2.0 Set to Revolutionize Healthcare



Facebook, YouTube, and Wikipedia are now set to revolutionize healthcare,
according to a new research report from online news service and publisher,

e-Health Insider. The new applications based on social health networks and

content generated by health service users themselvessuch as reviews of doctors

and hospitalswill rapidly evolve to challenge existing healthcare systems and

create new ways of delivering healthcare, according to the report titled Web

2.0 in the Health Sector: Industry Review with a UK perspective.

HP Net Revenue Up 11%



HPs net revenue surged 11% to $28.3 bn in its second fiscal quarter ended April
30, 2008. In the second quarter, GAAPs operating profit was $2.6 bn and GAAPs

diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.80, up from $0.65 in the year-ago

period. Strong sales in emerging markets boosted the companys earnings to $2.2

bn, up 24% a year earlier.

Infosys M-cap Dips 29%



Market capitalization of Infosys Technologies has dipped by 29% for the year

2007-08 to Rs 82,362 crore from Rs 115,307 crore during the year 2006-07,

according to the companys annual report. Meanwhile, the companys brand value

has grown by a marginal 0.77% for the year 2007-08 over the previous year. The

companys brand value is at Rs 31,863 crore, compared with Rs 31,617 crore

during the year 2006-07.

Virtusa Revenue Up 28%



Virtusa Corporation, provider of IT consulting, technology implementation and
application outsourcing services, has reported a 28% y-o-y increase in revenue

for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2008. The companys revenue stood at $45

mn for this quarter. Virtusa reported income from operations of $5.6 mn, or

12.5% of revenue, for the quarter, representing an increase of 38% compared to

$4.1 mn for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.

Gemini Net Up 52%



Gemini Communication, a provider of communications, networking solutions,

and system integration, has announced its results for the year ending March 31,

2008, with a 52% jump in its y-o-y profits. Net profit increased to 52% at Rs

27.47 crore for the period as against Rs 18.08 crore in 2007. Net revenue

increased 47% at Rs 236.12 crore for the period.

as against Rs 161.02 crore in 2007. PBT stood at Rs 36.05 crore for the

terms, a y-o-y growth of 73%.

Ad Spend on Social Networking Low



In spite of media hype around social networking, worldwide advertising

spending on social networks has not met expectations, said eMarketer, which

conducts research and analysis on digital marketing and media. According to a

release, eMarketer has revised its worldwide social network ad spending

estimates, now projecting that advertisers will spend one billion pounds

Sterling on social networks worldwide in 2008, rising to only 2.2 bn pounds in

2011. The previous figure for 2011 was 2.4 bn pounds.

ADS Holders to Get Infy Annual Report Online



Infosys Technologies has announced that it will make its annual reports
available on its website in place of physical distribution. Infosys is utilizing

the new NASDAQ rule amendment, related to ADS holders, allowing additional

methods of disclosure for Nasdaq-listed companies. The company said that the

annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on

April 30, 2008 together with the Indian Annual Report will be made available on

its website, www.infosys.com. As per the new rule amendment, the company will no

longer circulate physical copies of the Annual Report on Form 20-F or the Indian

annual report to ADS holders.

Riverbed Tops WAN Delivery Share: IDC



IDC has ranked Riverbed first in the worldwide market share for the WAN

application delivery market for the calendar year 2007. The research firms

reportWorldwide WAN Application Delivery 2007 Vendor Sharessays, Riverbed is

on a roll. It has built a solid solution that delivers the goods, and the

product is striking the right chord with customers. The future is bright for

WAN application delivery solutions. They have proven their merit and are more

than just a quick fix to slow applications on the WAN.

Byrraju Hosts National Rural BPO Conference



Byrraju Foundation, a non-profit organization, organized a national rural BPO
conference recently in Hyderabad. Hosted by GramIT, the rural BPO initiative of

the Foundation, the conference titled JYOTISMAYto illuminate the path forward

attracted various operating models of rural BPOs across the country. Kiran

Karnik, former Nasscom president, stressed the importance of the service sector

and knowledge economy to sustain Indias growth, especially for rural India. The

conference had representations from various states including Rajasthan,

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Tejas Bags TEMA Award for Excellence



The Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) has presented Tejas

Networks with the TEMA Award for Excellence. The award, presented to technology

developed in the country by Indian innovators, recognizes the outstanding

performance by a company for R&D. Union minister of Communications and IT A Raja

presented the award to Tejas.

6,000 Andhra Rural Youth to be Trained in IT



A technology university established under the Information Technology

department under the Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG) will begin its

first six-year integrated course exclusively for the rural youth in Andhra

Pradesh from August this year. The six-year integrated course will take students

who pass out from the tenth standard. There would be no entrance test with the

marks in SSC being the only criteria. The initial two years will be utilized for

enhancing technical and soft skills such as communication and language.

Bartronics Bets Big on Govt Schemes



Bartronics India, provider of automatic identification and data collection, is
trying to become an end-to-end solutions provider and is targeting many

government initiatives to boost business. The central government has proposed

the usage of smart cards for public distribution system, national rural

employment guarantee scheme, and old age pension. Currently, much of

Bartronicss revenues come from supplying smartcards to large telecom players

including Bharti and Reliance, an area the company would like to exit in the

future. The smart card manufacturing unit located near Hyderabad will get a

backward integration of chip modules later this year.

Airtel Customer Base Crosses 4 mn in Delhi



Bharti Airtel has crossed the 4 mn customer mark in Delhi. With this, Airtel
becomes the first and only mobile operator to achieve this milestone in a Metro

circle. The operator added the last million in just fourteen months. The company

said it would focus and build on its network, customer service and ensure

customer delight at every level in the year ahead. Airtel currently has a

network of cell sites across Delhi and NCR and plans to increase them by over

26% in FY 09.