Enron’s recent woes have delayed MSN’s plans to sell high-speed
access to homes. Enron’s broadband services unit had signed a pact with the
software giant last summer to develop and provide network capacity and other
services to support MSN’s high-speed service.

Information technology has reached the public food distribution
system in Kerala. For the first time in the country, ‘smart’ ration cards
will be used for the distribution of supplies through the state public
distribution system in Kerala. The project is being implemented by Delhi-based
IT firm ‘SmartChip’.

The European Commission has approved without conditions HP’s
proposed $22.3 billion takeover of Compaq. The transaction, which would be the
largest merger in the history of personal computers, remains under review by the
Federal Trade Commission in the US and several other jurisdictions.

Microsoft has named Scott Charney, a principal for
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ cybercrime prevention unit, as the new chief security
strategist. Scott Charney replaces Howard Schmidt, is leaving to work for
Richard Clarke, chairman of President Bush’s Critical Infrastructure Protection
Board.

European growth would drive up India’s software and services
export revenues y 30-35% per year, valuing the export industry at $50 billion by
2008, said Nasscom chief, Phiroz Vandrevala. The industry has earmarked Europe
as its fastest-growing market and expects Europe’s share of revenues to rise to
26% in the year to March 2002 from 24% last year.

AT&T Corp. posted lower fourth-quarter profits from continuing
operations amid weaker revenues. The long-distance telephone and
cable-television leader, had a net loss of $1.39 billion compared with a loss of
$1.64 billion a year before and revenues fell 9.5% to $12.59 billion from $13.91
billion.

Hewlett-Packard-Compaq, combined will be stronger in enterprise
computing, technology services, personal computers and printing systems,
enabling it to support and develop better Linux-based solutions, said Carly
Fiorina at the annual Linuxworld trade show. The companies, she said, is
committed to driving adoption of Linux on the Intel and Itanium platforms.

LG Electronics’ Indian unit said that its sales grew 16% to Rs
22.16 million in 2001. LG entered India in 1997 and has committed $289 million
over a nine-year period until 2005 to boost capacity and increase exports.

The Indian government will announce the name of the winning bidder
in the privatisation of state-run telecoms giant VSNL on February 5. The sale of
New York Stock Exchange-listed VSNL is billed as the nation’s most ambitious
privatisation in a decade of economic reforms.

Guests present at the ninth annual Dataquest Award Night was a
virtual who’s who from the IT industry. Pramod Mahajan, IT Man of the year,
speaking on the occasion said that the Ministry would try to push for 100%
depreciation of duty.

NetLink Technologies, a Chennai based company, has launched
SalesMIS.net in Bangalore that will be marketed by Bangalore based New-Age
Business Consultants. SalesMIS.net is an online field sales information
management solution.

The consulting services market is expected to grow with the
2000-2005 CAGR of 13.81 per cent and to reach $ 28.5 billion by 2005, according
to a report by IDC. A major change IDC has identified for 2002 is a blurring the
distinction between business and IT consulting services.

TeleCruz Technology, a US based interactive solutions provider for
the infotainment industry is working on a next generation microchip in a bid to
revolutionize that way we see entertainment. The company in a partnership will
provide microchips required for its Videocon’s iTV.

eBay Inc has tied up with Sotheby’s to bring more expensive art to
eBay and more people to Sotheby’s. According to the deal, the two companies will
unveil a new Sothebys.com site within eBay this summer, featuring the same
high-end art, antiques, jewelry and rare books that Sotheby’s now sells in
auction houses around the world.

PSI Data Systems said its board has approved the acquisition of
nearly all the stake in Birla Technologies for Rs 112.6 million. The
Bangalore-based software services provider is partly owned by Indian Rayon and
Industries.

Wipro Technologies in a partnership with Rational Software will set
up a Center of Excellence for developing Proof of Concept and demonstration for
software testing using the Rational Suite Test Studio. The two have formed this
alliance under the aegis of Wipro’s Software Performance Engineering Lab.

Nasscom has urged the government to remove certain procedural
bottlenecks in order to further growth in the Indian Software and Services
Industry. Nasscom submitted its recommendations for the Union Budget 2002 that
will aid the growth of the Indian IT industry.

Compaq’s chief executive Michael Capellas says he is determined
to hold shareholder votes in March on the merger and said regulatory approval
was on track for that to happen. Compaq has delivered stronger than anticipated
results in the fourth quarter and earlier this week raised its forecast for
2002.

Oracle Corp. joined numerous software company executives in making
the assertion this month that there are signs the downtrodden industry’s
fortunes will begin to turn later this year. Siebel Systems, SAP AG and other
large software companies that sell mainly to corporations have also issued
similarly optimistic views on 2002.

AT&T Corp. posted lower fourth-quarter profits from continuing
operations amid weaker revenues. The long-distance telephone and
cable-television leader, had a net loss of $1.39 billion compared with a loss of
$1.64 billion a year before and revenues fell 9.5% to $12.59 billion from $13.91
billion.