Microsoft targets Indian Internet market

NEW DELHI: Microsoft Corp will undertake its biggest ever product launch in

India next month, launching half-a-dozen Internet servers that help build,

deploy and manage networks and software applications.

"The launch of these six new servers forms the largest ever product

launch for Microsoft in India," the Seattle, US-based software giant said

in a statement on Tuesday.

The launch will include roadshows and product demonstrations in four Indian

cities.

The six servers, or back-end network software, are part of the .NET strategy

of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who visited India in September to set the

ground for the marketing drive.

India's software industry association said in July that around 50 to 100

consumer portals get launched every month in the country.

Domestic e-commerce solutions are expected to be worth Rs 15 billion ($321

million) in 2001-02, up from Rs 5.5 billion in 2000-01.

The government passed a digital law to enable e-commerce in August and set up

an administrative mechanism for it earlier this month.

According to the preliminary findings of an industry study, Indian e-commerce

revenue amounted to Rs 4.5 billion in 1999-2000 (April-March) and is expected to

zoom to Rs 150 billion in 2001-02.

Around Rs 132 billion of this is expected from business-to-business deals and

the rest from business-to-consumer transactions.

Closely-held Tata Consultancy Services, India's biggest software company,

will be among those which will demonstrate solutions built on the .Net Server

platform, the statement said.

The six products include the SQL Server 2000, which enables databases;

Commerce Server 2000, which helps build online businesses; BizTalk Server 2000,

which uses the XML language to link business processes; and Application Center

2000, a management tool for Internet solutions.

Besides these, the package would include the Host Integration Server 2000

which helps existing systems move to the Internet and the Internet Security and

Acceleration Server 2000 which protect privacy and security on the Internet.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.