Krishna on Singapore jig to promote IT.com

BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna will be in Singapore between June 25 and June 28 on a mission to attract the country’s techies to the state''''''''s ambitious five-day information technology jamboree–IT.com, scheduled to begin on November 1. He will be accompanied by some of Bangalore''''''''s top entrpreneurs–STAR''''''''s Lalit Ahuja, Novell''''''''s Vikram Shah, BPL Telecom''''''''s Rajeev Chandrashekar and MindTree Consulting''''''''s Subroto Bagchi. IT Secretary Vivek Kulkarni and CM''''''''s principal secretary SV Ranganath will also be accompanying the Chief Minister.

Top on the itinerary list is a proposed road show on June 27, to be attended by some top industrialists and senior government representatives, including Singapore’s Prime Minister. The CM will have a series of meetings with IDA, GIC, Temasek, Sembawang, PSA, SIA, Singtel and educational and biotech institutes. The road show will project IT.com as Asia''''''''s largest IT event. "This year, the theme of the event will be ‘The Future’. Companies will demonstrate how IT products will change the future way of life. The conferences will focus on technologies, entrepreneurship and venture capital funding. The highlight of the show will be on the use of IT for the common man," said Kulkarni. This year, the United States will be the partner country for the event.

Bangalore IT.com has already booked 63 per cent of space, out of which 45 per cent is by Indian companies. Of the 7,800 sq. meters, 3,553 sq. meters has been sold to Indian companies and 1400 sq. m. to firms from the US, Ireland, the UK and Germany. IT.com 2000 will open a window into the future–the future hardware, the future software, future technologies, wired and wireless networking products. IT.com, which has 11 pavilions, has already sold 50 per cent space in each pavilion.

The Singapore roadshow will also try and lure participants to IT.com''''''''s 11 pavilions. These include e.com for e-commerce companies, stpi.net for small and medium companies, country.org for non-English speaking foreign companies, infra.com for companies that will provide IT infrastructure and spectrum.org for hardware and peripherals. Other pavilions include software.net for software solutions, tel.net for telecom and networking, state.org for the other states in the country, e.gov for companies targeting government initiatives, linux.org for the most happening operating system in the world and yuva.com, the comprehensive training scheme launched by the state.

Among the panel of speakers will be Eric Birjousson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sanjiv Sidhu of i2 Technologies, Chandrashekar of Exodus and the legendary Dash, VP and chief technology officer of Oracle.