India-Tech News-MIT's plans for India,Satyam Inet roaming,Wealth creators.
MIT Chalks Out Plans for New Indian Synergies
Recognising India's emerging potential in the global IT arena, the famed Masachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has commited itself to a new policy of internationalisation to globalise its education programs. The institute is defining partnerships with dynamic Indian firms and working out tie-ups with the country's leading research centres and institutes of technology. It aims to graduate a large group of MIT students for whom India's industry, history, and culture forms a central part of their intellectual and human equipment, said Kenneth Keniston (photo), professor of science, technology and society, MIT.
As per Keniston, MIT, which once thought of its relationship with countries like India in terms of technology transfer, "has seen a paradigm shift where it must think of such relationships in terms of collaborations in a world of multiple centres of knowledge creation."
NIIT Bangs in with e-MPOWER-IT
In an attempt to emerge as a global leader in IT training by the year 2002, NIIT Ltd, the global software, training and educational multimedia company, has unveiled its new technology strategy in the country, the core of which is the creation of an integrated enterprise-wise IT Training Solution. The new solution, eMPOWER-IT, which ranges from certification and testing of skills to post training performance support, helps large enterprises effectively deal with the HR development problem through NIIT's Technology Based Training (TBT) solutions.
According to Rajendra S. Pawar, the company's managing director, "The new solution would address the complete IT and training needs of an enterprise through aggregation of various proven technology training tools created indigenously by the company's Instructional Research & Design (IRD) teams."
The key components of e-MPOWER-IT include Plan-IT, a management service that develops a training plan that is mapped to the enterprise's HR and IT plans and also recommends the optimum training delivery modes; Develop-IT which creates custom designed training solutions and also addresses different learner categories through the readily available library of NIIT's 269 titles and several hundred CBT packages.
In addition eMPOWER-IT includes Deliver-IT offering cost effective training solutions; Apply-IT which improves the learner's ability to apply their learning at the workplace; certify-IT offering a suite of measurement, testing and certification which can be vendor specific or custom designed; and Manage-IT, a learning management system to co-ordinate the learning process as well as monitor, measure and modify skills of learners.
Satyam Debuts Internet Roaming, Cuts Tariff
Close on the heels of launching the country's first private Internet provider service, Satyam Infoway has joined hands with the California-based GRIC Communications to offer international roaming facility for the first time in India. The tie-up would integrate Satyam Infoway with GRIC network of over 400 Internet service providers and 30 million subscribers spread over 100 countries. Besides, the company is also tabling a proposal to slash down its Internet service access rates. The proposed reduction in tariff would, however, be applicable only for renewal of the firms existing accounts, said officials.
According to R. Ramaraj, managing director, Satyam Infoway, "Our international roaming facility--NetWorld--would enable subscribers to access E-mail and Internet accounts using the same password and login address from anywhere in the world. And this would be only at the cost of a local call. Similarly subscribers from abroad, whose Internet Service Provider is part of the GRIC network, would be able to access their respective accounts whenever they travel to India." Local subscribers of Satyam Online would be able to register for the roaming facility by paying a tariff rate Rs 6,500 for 25 hours. Ramraj said this would be standard rate applicable to all subscribers, irrespective of the country or region where the facility will be used.
P-ISP Calls VSNL Bluff
The new band of private Internet Service Providers (P-ISPs) may be giving tough competition to the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), headed by Amtabh Kumar (photo) on the Net turf. But the latter believes in hitting where it hurts the most. The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) have formally lodged complaints with the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) as well as the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), charging VSNL of depriving the private operators of a fair share of Internet bandwidth access.
The private ISPs have complained about the inconsistency on the availability of Internet bandwidth from VSNL gateways. In a typical ISP network, a gateway links an ISP to the Internet network and the bandwidth measures its capacity to access the Net.
ISPs like Satyam Infoway are using VSNL gateway to gain bandwidth access. Satyam has sourced a bandwidth of two Mbps from the VSNL gateway in Chennai. But the bandwidth is not fully accessible, and is reported to be frequently encroached by VSNL. Hence, it has opted for additional bandwidth from gateways in Delhi and is planning to the same from VSNL, Mumbai.
Enter Infotech Wealth Creators
At a time when there is an all time slowdown in the Indian economy, there is a changing face of India Inc., with the new wealth creators for share holders coming from the infotech industry. A study carried out by the business daily Economic Times, along with Probity Research, says, recent money multipliers in the India are Satyam Computers, Wipro Infotech, Infosys Technologies, to name a few. The new wealth creators behind these success stories are Satyam's B. Ramalinga Raju, Azim H. Premji of Wipro and N.R. Narayanamurthy of Infosys respectively.
The study says, the day is not far off when, similar to the trend in the US, where men like Jack Welch of GE are legendary for the wealth they have generated for their share holders, promoters and CEOs of Indian IT firms will be judged on similar yardsticks. Say, if a share holder had invested Rs 10,000 in Satyam, Wipro or Infosys on Jan 15, 1996, he or she would be richer at around Rs 2,26,111, Rs 2,19,987 and Rs 2,00,000 respectively. The other software barons in India are K.S. Ganesh of Software Solutions, Nirmal Jain of Tata Infotech and NIIT's Vijay Thadani.
(Source:Computers Today) |
