Microsoft to introduce new business software
Seattle: Microsoft Corp. is planning to release a new version of its MS Office program that will handle accounting and customer management tasks. The product is targeted at small businesses.

The new program, code-named Magellan, takes on Intuit Corp.'s Quickbooks and other financial and accounting software for small businesses.

Since the last three years Microsoft has been setting up a new division aimed to grow revenues by $10 billion by the end of the decade with software designed and developed for small businesses.

Magellan is expected to include familiar Office programs such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint, but its Outlook e-mail and scheduling program will also feature an enhanced contacts manager for tracking customer accounts. It will include Office Small Business Accounting, new accounting software for managing payrolls, accounts and bookkeeping.

Microsoft did not disclose pricing for Magellan, scheduled for launch in late 2005.
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Linux Networx bags $40-mn in funding
San Francisco: Linux Networx, a maker of clustered computers using the Linux operating system, has received $40 million in venture capital funding, which will help it bring to market new systems and to double its work force by the end of 2005.

Linux' clustered computers, manufactured in Salt Lake City, using either Intel Corp. or Advanced Micro Devices Inc. processors, are used in the manufacturing, aerospace, oil and gas industries as well as in life sciences and scientific research.

Prior to the $40 million in funding announced on Thursday, Linux Networx had received $25 million in institutional and angel-investor funding according to the company.
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Verizon pays $3bn for NextWave's spectrum
London: Verizon Wireless, the largest US mobile carrier, has said it would buy all of NextWave's PCS spectrum licenses for $3 billion. The licenses span 23 markets around the US and will be acquired through the purchase of NextWave following the completion of its bankruptcy reorganisation, after which the licenses will be its only assets.

NextWave had bought 95 wireless spectrum licences worth $4.8 billion in Federal Communications Commission auctions between 1996 and 1997 and had planned to build a nationwide mobile phone network, However, it had to declare bankruptcy in 1998 after paying a $500 million deposit for the spectrum.

The transaction would be funded through cash flow from operations and inter-company loans.

The licenses will be used to expand Verizon Wireless' network capacity in 22 existing markets, and break into new territories, Tulsa and Oklahoma. The 10 and 20 MHz licenses will cover a population of 73 million people at a purchase price that equates to $2.85 per MHz point of presence.
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Reliance gets stay
New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has been asked by a division bench of the High Court to maintain status quo on the interconnect agreement with Reliance Infocomm. The matter will be taken up for hearing on November 30.

The Division Bench has asked Reliance to deposit Rs40 crore with BSNL by Monday as an interim payment.

The Division Bench was hearing an appeal by Reliance Infocomm against Thursday's order by a single-judge Bench dismissing its petition seeking to stop disconnection by BSNL for violating the interconnect agreement between the two.

The court also directed Reliance to file an affidavit confirming that it had stopped misrouting of international calls as local calls into the BSNL network.

BSNL has agreed to abide by the court order.
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Biocon to launch own insulin brand
Bangalore: Biocon India plans to launch its own branded recombinant human insulin formulation Insugen soon.

Dr Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, confirmed this on the sidelines of a pharma conference organised by the CII. The Bangalore-based company is also developing oral insulin for which it has entered into a tie-up with a US biotech firm Nobex Corporation.

She added that the company has been focusing on insulin-based molecules, as there is an alarming increase in this disease globally. She said Biocon India was eyeing the global market, where the opportunity was much larger for the product.

The company has already reached a global supply arrangement with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the supply of its 'r'-human insulin.

Biocon has also commenced Phase II B clinical trials of its drug TheraCIM, a humanised monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of head and neck cancers. This drug has already received a fast-track approval from the National Regulatory Authority of Cuba and `Orphan Drug' status from European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products to treat cancer patients, she added.

The company expects revenues between Rs700 crore and Rs750 crore for the 2003-04 fiscal, up from last year's Rs550 crore.
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To acquire stake in 2 US firms
Biocon is planning to pick up equity in two US-based research companies, Nobex and Vaccinex, to develop new products. According to Shaw both the US companies had strong discovery-led platforms, and partnerships with them would be beneficial to Biocon.

With Nobex, Biocon is collaborating for the co-development of an oral insulin product to treat diabetes and with Vaccinex, the Bangalore-based biotech major will partner in antibodies.

Shaw did not specify the exact equity percentage and the investment.
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Tata Motors' sales up 31.3 pc in October
Mumbai: Tata Motors has reported a 31.3 per cent rise in total vehicles sold in October, to 35,283 units as against the previous corresponding 26,862 units.

The company sold 16,667 commercial vehicles during the period, an increase of 29.6 per cent. In its passenger vehicles business, it saw a sales growth of 33.2 per cent to 16,332 units.

Indica sold 9,634 units while the Indigo with its variants sold 3,698 units. Sales of the Sumo and Safari amounted to 3,000 units.

For the April-October period, total vehicle sales moved up by 30.5 per cent to 215,777 units (165,384 units). Commercial vehicle sales in the domestic market amounted to 100,620 units (76,994 units), a gain of 30.7 per cent.

Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles for the first seven months stood at 68,918 units (50,937 units) and that of light commercial vehicles at 31,702 units (26,057 units), representing a growth of 35.3 per cent and 21.7 per cent, respectively.

Cumulative sales of passenger vehicles for the fiscal so far touched 1,02,280 units, a rise of 29 per cent. This included a 32 per cent growth in Indica sales to 62,090 units and 47.3 per cent growth in the entry mid-size segment, to 22,864 units.
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Henkel Spic plans merger with Henkel India
Chennai: Henkel Spic India plan of merging with Henkel India, the former "The Calcutta Chemical Company", will be considered at a board meeting on November 9.

The meeting was originally convened on October 30, 2004.

The reverse merger of Henkel SPIC with Henkel India Ltd will help it in reducing its large equity base, in line with the net worth of the company, as Henkel India is a small company with an equity base of less than a crore.

Henkel Spic's equity is a little lower than that of Hindustan Lever despite being much smaller in size in terms of revenues.

The swap ratio of offering lower number of new shares in the merged entity for the existing shares held in Henkel SPIC, would decrease the equity base of the merged entity considerably.
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Pantaloon inaugurates Hyderabad Central: plans 12 more central stores in 3 years
Hyderabad: Retail chain major Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd has opened Hyderabad Central and plans to roll out about 12 to 15 such large format stores across the country in the next three years.

Rakesh Biyani, director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, said the company is set to grow to about Rs1,200 crore in revenues by next year from the current Rs 650 crore following this expansion.

The Rs70-crore Hyderabad store, half of which is owned by the property developer GS Builders, would have five restaurants and serve as a shopping-cum-entertainment complex.

Spread across 250,000 sq ft on five floors, this is the largest single centre store for Pantaloon.
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McGraw Hill to have base in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: McGraw Hill company has decided to set up its base in Hyderabad for its Indian operations.

Termed as the number one company among the top-10 business media power houses, McGraw Hill is planning to establish an IT enabled Service (ITeS) operation here by acquiring Capital IQ, a local ITeS operator.
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TCS ties up with Australian firm to offer vocational guidance
Mumbai: TCS has signed an agreement with the Australia-based TAFE Global to introduce vocational training software to build and develop skills in workforce in India and internationally.

This agreement pertains to four initial fields for co-operation in vocational training - automotive, healthcare, white goods and English language fluency skills in the workplace.

Under the 3Ti, the parties have agreed on four projects to transfer the know-how and training quality standards, products and services of TAFE NSW to the Indian training environment through TCS both within the Tata group and beyond.

The presence of both parties in the global marketplace will be used to market the capability of 3Ti internationally, said a press release.
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IT companies head for tier II cities
Bangalore: IT companies led by Infosys are moving up the country. Infosys was the first one to announce a Rs300-crore investment in Mangalore and set up a sprawling training centre in Mysore, now Wipro, along with the $6 billion dollar IT giant First American and mid-size vendor Mphasis are following suit.

Wipro Technologies plans to take up around 25 acres in Mangalore in coastal Karnataka, and approximately 100 acres in Mysore, in the southern part of the state and will undertake both IT and ITeS tasks from its facilities in the region. Wipro Technologies alone employs 25,000 employees today and has also set up a development centre in Orissa.

Mphasis has also announced plans to set up shop in Mangalore and said that it eventually plans to have as many as 3,000 people in the coastal town.

The company employs over 7,000 people and its IT and BPO staff are primarily based in Bangalore and Mumbai.
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Air Sahara to make Hyderabad its global hub
Hyderabad: Air Sahara is investing $20 million over two years to create a hub for its international operations in the Deccan.

The private airline will operate 126 flights per week from here in phase I.

The hub, the first of its kind in the country, would connect Hyderabad to domestic and international cities.

Hyderabad would be connected to New Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Kochi, Bangalore, Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Coimbatore and Lucknow, in India according to Air Sahara president Ronojoy Dutta. The service will commence from February 3, 2005.

In phase II, international cities Kathmandu and Colombo will be connected to Hyderabad.

According to Dutta, Air Sahara would be appointing around 500 people for its operations in Hyderabad.

The company will invest $20 million and recruitment of man power during the next two years in its hub.
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