Karnataka bullish on IT.COM success

BANGALORE: Karnataka government’s IT.COM, dubbed as the largest IT event in

the APAC region, is optimistic about being "bigger" than last year,

despite the global recession and the on-going war against terrorism.

The department of Information Technology of the government of Karnataka in

association with STPI, Bangalore and Department of Electronics (DoE), have

confirmed the event to happen as per schedule in November. Confirming 220

exhibitors from India and participants from European and Apac region, the

organizers are positive about crossing the previous year’s number of 370

exhibitors.

The IT secretary of the state, Vivek Kulkarni, said, "The only noted

absentee in the event this year will be the US." Last year US was the

partner country for the event and this year their absence is compensated by the

participation of a host of other countries including UK, Japan, Germany,

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Belgium, he added.

Microsoft’s release of Windows XP in Karnataka will coincide with the

inauguration of the IT.COM. The software giant is also a platinum

sponsor and will be participating along with its channel partners, according to

its Microsoft’s chief sales manager, Karthik Padmanabhan.

The highlights of this year event is the inclusion of three more conferences

to last year's six. The new conferences include Special Panel Discussion titled

"There is more to the future" by McKinsey, a global buyer-seller meet

and a Software Engineering Conference by the Software Engineering Institute of

Carnegie Melon University.

The STPI will be organizing a forum on the impact of the global recession on

the Indian IT industry. In this regard STPI has done a study in association with

Stanford University, results of which will be given during the forum.

The ‘IT for rural’ quiz is underway in Bangalore. The state-level finals

will be held during the show. A total number of 41,000 students have

participated this year as against last year's 28,000.

The organizers, despite the slowdown have gone ahead and increased

participation rates by Rs 1000.