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Kalam to inaugurate Bangalore IT.Com on Monday

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Even as the shadow of the Cauvery crisis looms large over the state, the IT-savvy Karnataka government is bracing up to host the fifth edition of Bangalore IT.Com 2002, at the Royal Palace Grounds from October 28 to November 1.

The five-day conference-cum exhibition, touted to be Asia's largest IT event, will be inaugurated by President APJ Abdul Kalam.

Kalam, who will be making his first visit to Bangalore after becoming the President, will also chair a conference on e-governance with -- IT for Common Man -- as its main theme.

According to Karnataka IT & Tourism Minister D B Inamdar, Kalam will participate in a panel discussion on e-governance, to be attended, among others, by UK e-commerce minister Stephen Timms, Mauritius IT & Telecom minister Dheelchand Jeeha, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit.

"The e-governance conference will discuss the role of the private sector, IT architecture for the state, its project management, wide area network and case studies from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, the UK and Singapore," Inamdar stated in Bangalore on Friday.

The President will also open the Student's Internet World, held as part of the IT.Com event and hold an interactive session with about 600 students on exploring the resources of the Internet.

Organised by the state's IT department and the Software Technology Park of India, the IT summit will focus on the emerging sectors of business process outsourcing, e-governance, and banking and finance.

"About 250 dignitaries, including several international delegates, top IT honchos, and experts in multiple domains will participate in various conferences and exclusive sessions during the five-day meet.

"We will be providing a comprehensive platform for the global ICT (information and communications technologies) industry to launch its products and services, besides exchanging information on their markets," said state IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni.

The technology exhibits will have 10 thematic pavilions to showcase country and state pavilions, STPI, software, BPO, telecom, networking and spectrum and infrastructure.

The 'Tech States' pavilion will feature those state governments that have taken a lead in promoting the IT industry and is wooing investments from foreign and Indian technology companies.

As part of IT.Com 2002, The Indus Entrepreneurs from the Silicon Valley of the US will also hold a conclave to discuss the role of venture capital funds and the potential of the IT-enabled services from a global perspective.

"The TiE conference will also deliberate on the advantage of outsourcing by global IT companies from India," said STPI director B V Naidu.

According to the event manager Cyberexpo, only 130 global and Indian IT companies have so far confirmed participation in the exhibition as against 250 firms in the last event, held in 2001. About 20 more firms are expected to join.

Delegates and companies from 15 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Sri Lanka are also participating in the exhibition-cum-conferences.

Recognising the potential of the ITES sector, the event will have an exclusive pavilion featuring a BPO conference, an interactive session on skills required for the service industry and short-term training courses offered by the Institute of Bioinformatics & Applied Biotechnology, Bangalore.

The 2001 event had generated a business of $250 million as against $400 million in the 2000 event at the height of the IT boom, with about 400 firms participating.

"This time, the event will provide an unique opportunity for foreign delegations and IT companies to interact with their peers and do business in the foremost IT destination in the country," Inamdar told rediff.com.

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