Touchways to Set up E-kiosks

Touchways, a US-based firm with its wholly-owned subsidiary in Hyderabad,

will set up e-kiosks all over the country. The company will also offer

e-solutions including software applications, equipment, networking and

configuration. "Initially we are looking at tourism, medical, banking and

e-governance segments for boosting the sale of our product," said business

development manager of Touchways, G Sunil Kumar.

The e-kiosks will be compact, mobile and offer smart card applications for

secure and customized transactions. "We are looking at a price range of

around Rs 2 lakh for the product, which is far less than what is being offered

by other players in the field. We are also in the process of identifying channel

partners to market this product. Initially we will look at Bangalore, Chennai,

Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh," he added.

The portable kiosk has a fully integrated counter top kiosk solution and is

ideally suited to display Internet applications, motion picture quality video,

text and graphics in almost any acceptable environment. To create an

instantaneous internet access station, customer service center or interactive

exhibit, one just needs to remove the kiosk from its box load the website or

application and then plug the kiosk into a standard electrical outlet.

The product could be used includes retail sales, customer services, protected

public internet access, visitor information, ticketing systems etc. "We

believe that a product like this would help in bringing down the digital divide

among the IT have’s and have-nots in a big way," he added. The same

product could also be used to support services like bar code readers,

telephones, cameras, integrated wireless connectivity and zip drives.

Touchways started its operations in Hyderabad about two months ago and is an

arm of Object Technology Solutions Inc, a US based IT services and e-solutions

organization, with offices and representatives in the United States, Europe,

West Asia, North Africa and India.

By Zia Askari

(CNS)