News in Brief

Exodus cutting about 675 jobs, to take charge

SANTA CLARA: Web hosting company Exodus Communications Inc. said on Wednesday

it will shed about 15 percent of its work force, or about 675 jobs, as it tries

to control costs amid steep losses and the falloff in technology spending by

businesses.



The company said it will log a charge of less than $10 million for the move. It
expects to achieve most of the work force reductions - a move it had said last

month that it would pursue - through attrition and consolidation of facilities.

Exodus had about 4,500 workers worldwide as of March 31, it said in a statement.

The move comes just over a week after three top executives resigned in a

restructuring of the company's top ranks.-Reuters

 Tata Infotech launches 'ambition'

NEW DELHI: Tata Infotech Education has announced a new range of professional

courses named "ambition". The company will introduce this new channel

of education through a chain of over 200 exclusive centers across the country.

Ambition courses include MS Office, Unix, C, Java, Oracle, XML, ASP and value

added GIS. Besides this the company will also provide Computer Based Training (CBT)

that is brought in association with the USA based company Smartforce. The

company is also planning an Exclusive CBT centers in another 100 cities.



Speaking on the occasion, Tata Infotech Ltd. managing director, Nirmal Jain
said, " This initiative will position us as a leader in the professional IT

education segment."-CNS

US judge dismisses racial suit against Microsoft

SEATTLE: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a black former

Microsoft Corp. executive who alleged the software giant passed him over for

promotion and denied him lucrative stock options because of his race, a

Wednesday court filing showed.



Judge John Coughenour of the US District Court in Seattle dismissed the suit,
filed in 1999 by Peter Browne, on Tuesday in a summary judgement that said there

was insufficient evidence that the company discriminated against him because of

his race. "Mr. Browne ... has failed to come forth with evidence sufficient

to permit a rational jury to find that he is the victim of race or age

discrimination at Microsoft," Coughenour wrote in one section of the

ruling. Browne claimed Microsoft repeatedly passed him over for promotion in

favor of younger, less-experienced, non-black employees and denied him thousands

of shares of stock he deserved under an employee option plan.



"We believe this ruling reaffirms our position that we treat all of our
workers in a fair manner," Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray said. "We

work hard to recruit and maintain a diverse workforce." The suit was one of

several race-related cases facing Microsoft.-Reuters

IT&T and Tickets.com announced tie up

NEW DELHI: IT&T Entertainment Service (P) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary

of IT&T Ltd., a networking firm has tied up with Tickets.com to launch 'eZeetickit',

a computerized cross-location ticketing network. Tickets.com is a ticketing

software and services firm. With a proposed 80:20 joint venture with Ticket.com,

which would provide technological back up for setting up the ezeetickit network,

the tie up would enable IT&T Ltd., to set up a real time, on line, cross

locations network to sell movie tickets at strategic locations within the city.

The tie up also marks IT&T's entry into the field of entertainment. - CNS