The focus of the event this year will be to attract greater international participation and to provide Indian companies an opportunity to network with their peers from across the globe.

This year's event is targeted at a larger business audience and is designed to play the role of 'visionary' - highlighting the emerging sectors within IT: e-security, R&D and business process outsourcing. Last year the event had 264 companies participating from 16 countries.

This year, according to the organisers, the governments of the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong and Pennsylvania state, USA, have confirmed participation. Among Indian states, Chandigarh, Gujarat and West Bengal have announced their participation. Several companies like Infosys, TCS, Wep Peripherals and Canon have also confirmed their presence.

Speaking about Bangalore IT.com 2003, D B Inamdar, minister of state for IT and tourism, Karnataka government, said: "Each year IT companies under the industry verticals from across the globe participate in this event to explore the opportunities and share knowledge with one another. This in turn provides good opportunity for networking and interacting among leading technology players."

Bangalore IT.com 2003 will have 11 pavilions with 20,000 sq mts of space available for exhibitors, an increase of 5,000 sq mts over the last year.