Birlasoft to sell iPlanet B2B products

NEW DELHI: Indian software firm Birlasoft Ltd. said on Wednesday it has

struck a deal with iPlanet, the Sun Microsystems-Netscape alliance, to market

and implement their business-to-business applications.

The firm also said it expects revenues of Rs 3.3 billion in the year to March

2001, up sharply from Rs 1.65 billion a year earlier. Offshore revenues

contributed 95 per cent of its sales.

Birlasoft, privately held by India's Chandra Kant Birla group, part of one of

the country's leading business families, provides customized software solutions

and helps companies migrate their businesses to the Internet.

It said in a statement it planned to build Web-based procurement solutions

for firms around iPlanet's commerceXpert suite of products.

The firm is also setting up a GE Global Development Center in Gurgaon on the

outskirts of New Delhi where it will develop e-commerce and software solutions

for General Electric, a firm whose interests range from power equipment to

finance.

GE holds nearly 20 per cent of Birlasoft's equity.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.