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Discussions on technologies like wireless and IPTV, need for greater IT
penetration in rural India dotted the 10th session of the national IT jamboree.
While the event had many firsts to its credit, the dwindling number of
participants continued to be a point of concern
As the curtains fell on BangaloreIT.in (BIT.in) this year, the event was
remembered for having several firsts to its credit. The 10th edition of BIT.in,
held between the Oct 29 and Nov 1, 2007, was an all industry affair.
With officials acting just as facilitators, the content and structure was
worked out by an advisory committee, which comprised experts from the IT
industry. This year the event venue was shifted from the Palace Grounds to the
specifically structured exhibition center Bangalore International Exhibition
Center (BIEC) in the city. According to the organizers, the shift was done to
the Wi-Fi enabled venue because BIEC provided exhibition halls and conference
halls under a single roof.
Nearly 125 companies participated in the five-day jamboree. Inaugurating the
event the Rameshwar Thakur, Governor of Karnataka, said, “Given the rapid growth
of tier-2 and 3 townships as IT hubs, the state government has decided to set up
five integrated townships around Bangalore. The first such township, coming up
at Bidadi, would be dedicated to the knowledge sector. These integrated
townships would reduce the growing pressure on transport infrastructure in
Bangalore.”
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| Over 125 companies
participated in the event |
Speaking on the uniqueness of the event, Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia
group, said that the 10th edition had speakers and panelists from
over 75 national and international companies. “With over 18 parallel tracks,
five keynote addresses and five power panel discussions, the conference would
attract over 1000 delegates each day, with various ICT enterprises, SME's and
technocrats showing keen interest in the conferences,” he added.
Tech talk
Wireless, IP TV, IP telephony and broadband were some of the technologies
that came under the scanner at this year's BangaloreIT.in. Speaking at a session
on 'Domestic Market-Wireless Infrastructure,' Ravikiran A, Customization Center
Head for Business Support Systems, Nokia Siemens Networks India said, “The
current wireless market growth is more in A and B-class cities. But in the
coming years, C-cities will gain traction especially in voice connectivity. The
challenge is to provide affordable coverage in rural villages.”
Telecom companies like Alcatel Lucent had stalls that showcased their focus
on IP telephony and IPTV-technologies. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) also
offered demonstrations of some of its newer value additions like IPTV and
video-on-demand services.
Rural India and IT
Corporate should build an innovative business model to provide services for
80 percent of the population who are at the bottom of the pyramid, noted BL
Parthasarthy, MD, Krishna Bhima Samrudhi Bank (Basix Group), Hyderabad, while
addressing the session on 'Product and Services at the Bottom of the Pyramid.'
“This is a huge untapped segment and services for this sector are usually
rendered in the form of government funds or through CSR activities. The
corporate can convert the CSR activities into a business model to render
solutions and services to this segment. With public private partnership they can
complete the business model and use IT in an effective way to support the needy
people,” he added.
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| The stalls drew visitors from
all walks of life |
Traction in domestic market
The general consensus at BIT.in was that the Indian IT industry would see
major traction in the domestic market in the coming years. “The domestic market
is growing faster than the export market. A heterogeneous market, domestic IT/ITeS
market will grow at the rate of 20 percent CAGR and export will grow at 17
percent in the coming years,” said Kapil Dev Singh, Country Manager, IDC, while
addressing a session on 'Domestic Market'.
According to Rajdeep Sahrawat, VP, Nasscom, a way forward to address this
market potential is through industry clusters. “Template design has to be done
on a cluster level,” he said.
Proposing a strategy for developing the Indian SMEs, he said, “Education
about the benefits of IT adoption, personalizing solutions instead of pushing
the boxes, breaking away from the licensing model and developing partnership
ecosystem to achieve last mile connectivity are some of the way to address the
problems.”
Vying for the IT pie
Many states chose the Bangalore IT.in as a platform to showcase their IT
abilities. In a bid to encourage the IT growth in the state, West Bengal said
that it has taken new initiatives like setting up of the India Design Center.
“The center will provide an entire ecosystem for the VLSI industry in one
integrated building,” said Debesh Das, Minister-in-Charge-IT, Government of West
Bengal. “The state also plans to contribute 15 percent share of India's IT/ITeS
exports by 2010,” he added.
In a parallel press conference in the city, the Tamil Nadu government laid
down a three point agenda to provide a congenial environment for IT/ITES
companies to become the numero uno IT destination in the country by 2010. C
Umashankar, MD, Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (Elcot) said, “The
three main focus areas are superior infrastructure, quality human resources and
business environment across
the state.” Around 2,340 acres of government land across the state has been
earmarked for development of IT industries and Rs 100 crore has been allocated
to Elcot for infrastructure development, he added.
The downside
While the many states chose the event to showcase the strides they have made
and solicit investments in IT, states like Goa, Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh,
besides Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand did not participate claiming
non-availability of a separate section for state stalls. The absence of notable
names from IT Inc and the tepid response to the show were other points of
concern.
Interestingly, the event saw several realtors putting up their stalls to get
in touch with IT companies looking out for new campuses and space to setup cyber
parks, IT integrated townships and IT-related special economic zones. Mantri
Realty from Nagpur, Adarsh Realty from Bangalore, Ansals Realty from Delhi and
Mayatas Properties from Hyderabad, were among the participants.
SUBBALAKSHMI BM
subbalakshmibm@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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