Freehold License for Focus Softnet
Focus Softnet has launched a subsidiary, Focus Software Solutions Co. Ltd, with locations in the Kingdom’s three main cities. The new company is only the fourth Indian company to secure a freehold company license in the Kingdom. The company hopes to cater to government, semi-government and large corporations across Saudi Arabia. Nisith Naik, COO, Projects, Focus Softnet, remarked that the new company will allow Focus Softnet to qualify for any size of project in IT, thus opening opportunities in Saudi Arabia to target corporations such as Saudi Aramco, SABIC, SEC and projects from various ministries. “We have plans for at least $10 million in projects for 2008. We are currently in the process of registering our company as a preferred vendor in these enterprises,” said Naik.
Ali Hyder, CEO, Focus Softnet added that the company also wants to enter into joint venture agreements with foreign firms wanting to come to Saudi Arabia, who had been unable to set up operations in the Kingdom due to the complex procedures for establishing companies.
Wipro and Microsoft Expand Alliance
Wipro Technologies and Microsoft Corporation have expanded their strategic alliance with the opening of two Wipro Centers of Excellence to showcase Microsoft technologies at Wipro’s facilities in Bangalore and Mysore. The state-of-the-art centers will provide customers with an informative and interactive experience where they can envision and evaluate specific business and industry-based scenario solutions. The Wipro and Microsoft alliance started five years back, with the two companies collaborating on solutions in emerging technologies.
The Wipro Centers of Excellence will focus on solutions and services on Windows Vista and Microsoft Unified Communications. Dedicated Wipro resources will work to integrate the various business communication tools into a single, inter-enterprise wide solution across multiple devices for e-mail, calendaring, voice and telephony, presence, instant messaging and short messaging service. Wipro will also expand to cover new geographies with Microsoft in the Middle East — the UAE and Saudi Arabia, while at the same time accelerating growth within North America, Europe and India.
Identity Cards Finally Issued
India’s Central Government announced that smart cards have finally been issued to citizens aged 18 years and above in the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC) pilot project. The pilot project covers about 30 million citizens in twelve States and one Union Territory — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pudducherry. The production and distribution of the identity cards in the pilot project was to be completed by July, 2007, but due to sourcing and technical problems the project wasn’t completed until March 2008. The MNIC project hopes to complement the provision of a unique National Identity Number (NIN) to each person in the National Population Register (NPR). At least Rs. 44.360 million was spent on the pilot project and a decision is yet to be made on the implementation of the scheme nationwide.
However, one ID that will be issued nationwide is a new electronic press accreditation card from the Press Information Bureau (PIB). This card will replace the older PIB Press Card and be valid for two years, unlike the old cards which were renewed annually. The electronic card has security features including the electronic signatures of PIB and Home Ministry officials and is tamper proof. The card will be color coded in four categories — yellow for correspondents, pink for cameramen, white for technicians and blue for editors.
Handset Distribution Is Key
Strategy Analytics’ report, “Handset Distribution Environment in India,” finds that distribution patterns in rural India and customer response to vendors’ offerings will be crucial to the success of both handset vendors and operators in the Indian market.
Beyond maintaining margins, vendors need to overcome rural challenges like dismal infrastructure and after sales service, as well as the need to educate customers and retailers about product benefits. Vendors operate on wafer thin margins, a scenario projected into the next five years. The overall teledensity of rural India is a meager 4 percent and Indian mobile teledensity is negligible. Thus, there are immense opportunities for both handset vendors and operators in these markets.
“There is a huge untapped potential in the Indian market and a big opportunity lies ahead for all stakeholders,” said Rahul Gupta, manager, Emerging Market Communications Strategies for Strategy Analytics. “But success will depend on customer response to the handset vendors’ service offerings, and the ability of vendors and operators to serve those communities both adequately and cost-effectively.”
