Bangalore IT.COM Scores Again

If the outsourcing backlash dominated the IT.COM proceedings last year, in
2004 it was the pitiable state of Bangalore's infrastructure. While the
specter of mass company boycott over the issue hovered over the event,
everything was sorted out at the right time, and the organizers managed to pull
off a winner yet again.

India's premier mega event IT.COM 2004, which contributed to the creation
and portrayal of "Brand Bangalore" took place for the seventh
consecutive year. It witnessed five intense and power packed days of
conferences, exhibition, business meets, interactions and activities. The
success of the event came even as infrastructure woes and the state's
inability to deal with the traffic and road congestion in Bangalore forced some
companies to go on the offensive and threaten to boycott the event, barely three
weeks before it started. Fortunately, the Karnataka government quickly stepped
in to manage the crisis and soothed frayed tempers by delineating a series of
steps to stem the infrastructure bottlenecks.

Promises to keep

The state Government's keenness to deliver on its promise and making sure
IT was top on the agenda was underscored by CM Dharam Singh, who inaugurated the
show. Acknowledging the inherent infrastructural problems in Bangalore, he said,
"After having interacted with IT company heads like Azim Premji, NR
Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilenkani, we have lined up many initiatives like the
Rs 390 crore hi-tech city project in Bangalore."

Further he stated, "My government will leave no stone unturned to ensure
that the city maintains its pre-eminent position as an IT destination in India
and the world."

Also present at the opening ceremony were PGR Sindhia, Minister, Large and
Medium Industries, Government of Karnataka, Marsha Thomson, Minister for
Information and Communication Technology, Government of Victoria, Australia, Sir
Michael Arthur, British High Commissioner in India, Dr Krishna Mikkilaneni, MD,
Honeywell Technology Solutions, State IT Secretary Shankaralinge Gowda and
Pradeep Gupta, CMD, Cyber Media India Ltd.

International participation increases

This year's event saw participation from 15 countries including first
timers Spain, Australia, Sri Lanka and Fulton County, Georgia as well as
Germany, Oman, Russia, Belgium, UK and Malaysia.

The state of Victoria, Australia represented by a 54-member strong contingent
comprising 27 companies was quite impressed with the industry growth in
Bangalore. "Our minister Marsha Thomson was clearly excited by the business
potential between the two countries and we hope to see a lot of
partnerships," said Raghu Iyer, CEO of Business Intelligence Technologies,
Melbourne.

Germany was an active participant this year with three separate delegations
representing the country. These included Invest in Bavaria and Go to Bavaria,
Frankfurt and the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. Peter Englert, GM, Go to
Bavaria said, "Though we are different agencies from Germany, we have
healthy competition among us."

India's island neighbor Sri Lanka, plugged itself as a good destination for
the BPO industry and an offsite disaster recovery center. Fulton County, Georgia
from the USA was pushing to promote Atlanta as a destination for Indian
companies that want to have a presence in the US. Pundi Narasimham, who was part
of this delegation said, "We are overwhelmed by the response we've
received and decided to invite Indian companies exclusively to Atlanta in April
to showcase the city for them."

Having realized the brand potential of IT.COM, some international companies
chose to announce their operations in Bangalore at the event. These include Blue
Box, a hardware broking firm from the UK, an Irish life sciences company called
Randox Labs, Solutions Driven, a UK-based company as well as Business
Intelligence Technologies headquartered in Australia which opened its Bangalore
office.

Pavilions

Like last year, there were ten pavilions this time as well, the only
difference being the debut of a dedicated pavilion for the gaming and animation
sector and the BPO and career mart pavilion. As per the norm, stalls were judged
for innovative and captivating design. Bosch walked away with the coveted
overall best stall prize while other winners also put up an attractive show.
(Refer box on winners)

Jawaid Akhtar, director of IT and BT, Government of Karnataka addresses delegates at IDC conference on outsourcing opportunities Top honchos hob-nob at dinner during the CEO Conclave Intel's digital home demonstration stall sports a colorful look

Animation companies and training institutes like Paprikaas Animation Studio,
Toon School, Animaster, and Ants were prominent exhibitors at the
Infrastructure, Animation and Games pavilion. Infrastructure providers like
Kolte-Patil from Pune, Magarpatti Township and Development Company, Hiranandani
Constructions and Bangalore-based Salarpuria group tried to woo companies with
their projects.

Keeping in view, the ever-increasing demand for young talent in the BPO
sector, an exclusive pavilion for the BPO industry focused on career assessment
tests and recruitment. Hundreds of students poured into the pavilion to drop in
their resumes or to sit for a BPO assessment test to check their BPO aptitude.
Over the course of five days, around 500 candidates took the test conducted by
hiring consultants, MeriTrac and Eduquity Career Technologies. Some companies
like Progeon, 24/7 Customer, Adecco PeopleOne Consulting, ICICI OneSource and
Naukri.com were literally deluged with resumes.

The Digital Lifestyle pavilion was another crowd puller, which is proof of
the tech savviness of the Indian consumer. This year, the pavilion saw the
active participation of Taiwanese players like KYE Systems and Acorp which
dazzled visitors with their display of the latest digicams, mouse, keyboards,
gaming peripherals and MP3 players. First timers at IT.COM, these companies were
in Bangalore to strike disty relationships in the country. Intel was conspicuous
with its demo of the digital home while PalmOne and DVS Electronics were
prominent show stealers.

Around 15 Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu,
Chandigarh, West Bengal vied with each other to attract companies at the IT
states venue.

India's major telecom player, Reliance, displayed broadband capabilities STPI's informative stall attracted visitors

Telecom players like BSNL, Airtel, Reliance, put up a good show at the
communications pavilion. Airtel made the most of the opportunity by showcasing
its newly launched Blackberries, while Reliance preferred to demonstrate its
non-voice services. ISPs like Hathway and Iqara Telecom were also present.

Other pavilions like ICMT Giants, STPI, Software Solutions and Knowledge and
R&D drew crowds. A striking feature overall was the predominance of
networking and telecom infrastructure companies and products.

Conferences

Compared to previous years, the four-day conference series was well
received, thanks to the focus on content and the active association of industry
associations like CII, TiE, NASSCOM, IDC and the newly incorporated Indian
Semiconductor Association. The topics ranged from entrepreneurship, the
semiconductor industry in India to technology outsourcing opportunities and
e-governance initiatives.

Other events

The Rural IT quiz held for the fifth consecutive year, drew tremendous
participation this year which has made organizers sit up and try to get an entry
into the Guinness Book of Records. Around 62,000 students took part in the zonal
rounds compared to 54,000 last year, something unprecedented in terms of
participation anywhere in the country and probably in the world.

Displaying knowledge that would put techies to shame, the duo of Samarth
Kudalkar and Darryl Lewis of Little Rock Indian School from Udupi came up trumps
winning the TCS cash scholarship first prize of Rs 50,000. The Students Internet
World, which was held in Bangalore before, was decentralized this year to cover
27 districts in the Karnataka. The event drew an estimated 3,00,000 students.

Organizers decided to take it to other places this year, since they felt that
schools in and around Bangalore have better access to computers. "We want
to promote computer literacy among students, especially in secondary cities
where the BPO industry is set to take off soon," said Jawaid Akhtar,
Director, Department of IT and BT, Government of Karnataka.

The last word on the event belonged to Shankaralinge Gowda, the state IT and
BT Secretary, who said at the close of the event, "The overwhelming
participation at the mini IT.COMs (Students Internet World) in all districts of
Karnataka is an indicator that IT has truly reached the masses. From Bangalore
IT.COM it has become Karnataka IT.COM."

PRIYA PADMANABHAN

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