BANGALORE. INDIA: Making the idiot box an interactive one has been a long cherished dream. Infosys Technologies has just made this attempt with success!

Infosys has entered into an innovation and technology partnership with Bharti Airtel, India's leading integrated telecom service provider, to provide an interactive and personalization experience to customers of Airtel digital TV.

Infosys will offer a suite of products, including devices, application servers and interactive applications that will provide an enhanced digital lifestyle to Airtel digital TV customers, said S.D. Shibulal, COO, Infosys.

The Infosys' Digital Convergence Platform will bring digital lifestyle applications offering interactivity and personalization into the living room. This will include interactive and non-intrusive applications like widgets that can be invoked by the user to view relevant and customized information.

For the first time in India, Airtel DTH TV subscribers will be able to now be able to access local city information through interactive applications such as iCity, Internet like experience with iNet, get personalized stock quotes, breaking news, among others, without interrupting their TV viewing experience.

The technology platform that powers Airtel digital TV brings the potential that computers offer to TV sets. In addition to entertainment, it is now possible to experience interactive information services and engage in transactions using regular TVs.

'This technology also makes it possible to have a converged consumer experience across devices like TVs, computers, smart mobile phones and digital music players. The availability of these services in the Indian market marks a significant milestone," the Infosys COO said.

Infosys eyes emerging markets

Infosys, whose major part of revenue comes from US market, is eyeing the emerging markets in a big way. Besides India, Infosys has entered into strategic agreements across verticals in Canada, Australia, etc., among other nations in the recent past.

"This is the first time that we have worked on the TV vertical. We are focusing on emerging markets in a big way and enter them at a right time," the Infosys COO said, adding that the digital convergence platform was the second major product after Finacle to be released in India.

DTH market

Atul Bindal, President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel, said that the partnership with Infosys would bring the best technology available to its DTH subscribers.

He said currently there were 7-8 million households with DTH connections in India, which is likely to grow to 225 million DTH households by 2010. Therefore, it is not just having a share in the existing market share, but tapping the huge potential market, Bindal added.