IT Kerala 2000: Not exactly Comdex, but…

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: NeST (Network Systems & Technologies Ltd.) had IT

buffs falling all over its latest product at the IT exposition in Kerala with

its PC powered by the Pentium 4 processor. You have to admit that it is quick

service, for Pentium 4 was launched only a few days ago. As if to drive home

the legacy of their achievement, NeST says that such a product would take months

to reach the Indian market. Not until January 2001 for sure, they say. The

product, which has its own hard disk and motherboard, is priced around Rs 1 lakh.

It was not the only product over which the visitors went gaga. A unique

gaming PC with a steering wheel and accelerators and a 19-inch color monitor

stole the hearts of students. It used a Pentium III and had 128 RD-RAM, 20GB

hard disk and creative 5 point amplified speaker, all for less than Rs 1 lakh.

Occupying the pride of place was the Total Integrated PC from NeSt, which was

in direct competition with iMAC from Macintosh in the world market. It had a

multimedia keyboard with an optical mouse, with the CD and floppy drives built

into the monitor. Total Integrated PC had a competitive edge over iMAC in that

it was priced around Rs 50,000, as against iMAC’s Rs 1 lakh.

Other products on display included its Linux range of PCs, e-home series for

home segments, AMD series, laptops, palm tops and servers.

NeSt, which began as a small enterprise in 1991, has grown into a global

conglomerate having 20 manufacturing facilities and 12 offices worldwide. Having

operations in diverse fields such as networking, communications products and

total IT solutions, it has succeeded in establishing a strong presence in the

high technology markets of the US, Europe, the Middle East, India, Japan and

Australia. "We are committed to excellence in quality to exceed customer

expectations. Our goal is to meet the stated and the implied needs of the

customers." The company has already achieved the SEI CMM Level 3 and the

ISO 9001 certification in a short span of time. Its center at the Technopark has

been receiving the "Best Regional Software Exporter Award" for the

last three years.

Agreed, IT Kerala 2000 did not have the big shots in the IT industry in the

country lining in queue to mark their attendance. Of course, there was Wipro

exhibiting its wares in the PC and Home pavilion, TCS with its e-bank works

package for Internet- banking and WAP enabled e-governance initiatives, and HCL

Peripherals, all of which belonged to the big league. But it was the small and

the medium IT companies who took center stage, and their enthusiasm and vigor

more than made up for the absence of the big players.

On display at the IT Expo were pointers towards the silent revolution that

had been taking place in the state IT sector. The packages developed by the

Information Mission Kerala to monitor plans in the local self governing bodies,

the digitized software for self governance, the package for responsive

administration of welfare network and services, all tell you about the strides

the state has made in e-governance.

Keltron has a slew of e-governance projects to its credit such as Wide Area

Networking of Treasuries and Departments in the Kerala Secretariat,

Computerization of Commercial Taxes Department and issue of revenue cards and

smart cards.

Not to be left behind, the National Information Center along with IT

Department and the Registration Department devised a package for effective

administration of registration laws, called PEARL, for speedy land registration.

But where more inquiries poured in was the stall of Asianet Satellite

Communications, where it exhibited its recently launched Asianet Dataline

Services, which is all set to provide Internet through the cable television

network.

Accel ICIM Systems and Services Limited, a Chennai-based company with offices

across India, demonstrated its thin client architecture from Sun, wherein the

entire computing is done on the server.

ESCO Audio Visual (India) Pvt. Ltd, which provides audio visual solutions in

terms of integration of AV equipment for conference, boardrooms, training

centers and hotels, launched ASK M3, its smallest projector weighing just 11/2

kg.