IT majors likely to spike BangaloreIT.com
Bangalore: Angered over the Karnataka Government's lackadaisical attitude towards maintaining and improving the technology capital infrastructure, IT firms, have decided to withhold support for the forthcoming BangaloreIT.com 2004.

Companies such as Philips Software, which earlier confirmed its participation in the annual event, have pulled out of the annual technology event. Industry sources said many more firms, including the domestic companies, which have been complaining about poor infrastructure for quite some time, were likely to follow suit in the coming days.

Billed as the largest tech event in Asia Pacific, BangaloreIT.com showcases the IT industry in Karnataka and is also a vehicle to attract investments into the State. Companies including Texas Instruments, SAP, Siemens, HP, Sasken, vMoksha, IBM, Motorola among others would not be supporting the event.
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HAL team to visit Chile for sale of Advanced Light Helicopter
New Delhi: A high-level team of Hindustan Aeronatics Limited (HAL) is leaving for Chile to push for the sale of Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs).

If successful then this would be the first major deal to sell the indigenous ALHs. The team includes Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S Krishnawsamy,
who will hold negotiations with Chilean Defence authorities.

The HAL, along with leading helicopter manufacturers from the United States and France, has been in competition to bid for the sale of High Altitude Helicopters to the Chilean armed forces.

The ALHs, piloted by Indian Air Force pilots, have already performed high altitude tests over the Andes mountains. HAL has tied up with Israeli state-owned company IAI for sales of Advanced Light Helicopters outside India.
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L&T to invest in plastics and defence equipment plants
Chennai: Larsen & Toubro Ltd plans to invest Rs60-70 crore in expanding its plastic machinery manufacturing unit and in setting up a new plant to manufacture Defence equipment. Both these plants are to come up on the outskirts of Chennai, along the Chennai-Bangalore national highway.

L&T said that the land for the two projects had been selected and work would commence shortly. The plants would come up on the national highway beyond the site where the headquarters of ECC (Engineering Construction and Contracts) division of L&T are located.

The new plant is expected to start functioning in a year. The turnover will increase from Rs150 crore to about Rs250 crore in that period, 40 per cent of which will come from exports. The new plant will be able to make machines of higher capacity, about 1,000 tonnes.

Currently, L&T-Demag makes about 130 units a year and earns about Rs60 crore in revenues.

The plant to manufacture Defence equipment will be set up under L&T itself. It will come up on 20 acres of land, a further 7 km from where the L&T-Demag plant will come up. It is expected to earn revenues of Rs 50 crore initially, which will go up to Rs 100 crore in a couple of years. This plant will make bridges and launchers for the Defence establishment.
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Lenders set to recast BPL debt package
Mumbai: The Bangalore-based BPL Ltd's lenders have cleared a restructuring package at a meeting of members of the corporate debt restructuring forum of banks and financial institutions.

According to sources, most of the lenders have agreed to implement a recast package that would involve hiving off the company's colour television into a separate joint venture with Sanyo Electric of Japan.

While lenders will take a hit on the Rs1,400-crore debt, the rest will be rescheduled and converted into eight per cent term loans and preference shares.
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IBS Software unveils airline cargo solution SmartCargo
Thiruvananthapuram: IBS Software Services (IBS) has launched its new airline cargo solution - SmartCargo, at the 22nd International Air Cargo Forum and Exposition (ACF) of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) in Bilbao, Spain.

SmartCargo is a Web-based solution that comprehensively meets the needs of the core cargo operations of airlines, said the company. It is an effective tool for cargo capacity management, tracking, pricing, airway bill stock control and unit load device management. It enables accurate estimation of available cargo capacities using historical information.

SmartCargo also maintains integrated cargo tariffs helping airlines price their services better. It makes available updated information on shipment status and facilitates its onward communication to the supplier/customer. Customers can benefit from direct access to airline services via the Internet. The system will also minimise errors in data capture that translates into substantial savings in time and cost.

IBS had recently partnered with Cendant Travel Distribution Services (TDS), a division of Cendant Corp, for marketing its new-generation Passenger Services System designed to replace legacy technologies.
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Elitecore Tech to raise $5 million from venture capital funds
Ahmedabad: Elitecore Technologies Ltd, an Ahmedabad-based billing and content filtering services company, has firmed up plans to raise $5 million through private placement of equity with venture capital funds.

The funds would be used for the company's entry into the $4-billion US and South American markets. Elitecore's core products include `JISP Billing' and `Cyberoam' - billing and Internet content filtering solutions respectively.

The JISP Billing solution claims to handle 1.5 million subscribers in India and over 90 per cent share in the post-paid dial-up market. The company's clientele includes BSNL, MTNL, Reliance, and Bharti.
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Datacraft sets up global service centre
Bangalore: IT service provider Datacraft has launched a Global Service Centre (GSC) in Bangalore. The 100-seater facility will provide services such as call management, help desk services, management and monitoring of their customers' IT environment.

According to the company, India can take over as the global hub for Datacraft. The company is currently offering only English language support, but later it has plans for other languages to support the APAC countries.

For Datacraft, India has emerged as the fastest growing market and subsidiary, with the facility to support 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region.
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