Fonocom 2005 debuts Wi-Fi technology in central India

Indore held the 11th IT and telecom business event - Tata Indicom Fonocom
2005 from 11th to 14th February, 2005. Madhya Pradesh State Minister of
Industries and Finance, Kailash Chawla inaugurated the show. While inaugurating
the four-day event, the minister highlighted the importance and emergence of the
IT industry in his state. The expo was organized by the Madhya Pradesh Telecom
and Computer Traders Association (MPTCTA) and sponsored by Tata Indicom.

"It is the right time to increase the market by penetrating smaller tows
and remote areas. In my view, major IT vendors need to take their enterprising
technology into villages," said Kailash Chawla. MP being a central state is
best connected with other parts of the country and that the state government
will offer all its support to invest here.

There were quite a few highlights of the event. About 120 stalls including
leading vendors in the IT and telecom business like Canon, Philips, Wipro,
Logitech, Lexmark, Zenith, HP, IBM, Intel, BSNL were present. MPTCTA President,
Ashish Saxena said that the main theme of this year's event is wireless
fidelity (Wi-Fi), which is why the entire area of the event has been turned into
a 'hotspot'.

D-Link provided technical assistance in creating a Wi-Fi enabled hotspot at
the venue of the show. This is the first event in central India that showcased
the Wi-Fi technology.

Consumers were given special discounts, schemes and prizes were there to be
won. A bumper prize of Maruti 800 was also up for grabs.

FAIZ ASKARI