News in brief...

Vivek Kulkarni replaces Sanjoy Das Gupta



BANGALORE: V Vivek Kulkarni takes over as the new IT Secretary of Karnataka from
Sanjoy Das Gupta. He was earlier Secretary (Resources) in the finance

department. Sanjoy Das Gupta has been appointed as Managing Director of

Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC).

Escotel Launches V-Tel Easy Prepaid Connection for Rs. 999



NEW DELHI: Escotel, the cellular operator for UP (West), Haryana and Kerala, has
launched a new pre-paid connection "V-Tel Easy", in UP (West) and

Haryana. The new connection offers calculation of airtime on the basis of a

30-second pulse instead of the current 60. V-Tel customers who used to pay Rs 9

for outgoing and Rs 4.50 for incoming for a 30-second call will now pay Rs 4.50

and Rs 2.25 per minute for outgoing and incoming calls, respectively.

The new V-Tel Easy is priced at Rs 1,500 but as an inaugural offer it will be

available for Rs 999, a release said. This also includes a pre-packaged airtime

of Rs 500 valid for a month, bringing the effective cost of the connection to Rs

499. The V-Tel Easy Prepaid Cellular connection has all the advanced features of

the V-Tel prepaid connection and can be used to make calls anywhere within the

Escotel Service area in the circle. For all these calls, the user has to pay

only the airtime and the local call charges.

Clarify Inc. enters India



NEW DELHI: The San Jose, California-based Clarify Inc, a global provider of
enterprise solutions for managing customer relationships, made its entry in

India by appointing the Chennai-based Bitech Systems as its first Indian

Partner. Bitech will sell Clarify's CRM products and also provide implementation

expertise to its customers in India. Bitech will also be Clarify's authorized

trainer in India. These solutions not only manage the customer relationship,

they also provide organizations with the flexibility to quickly adopt new

programs to leverage the existing client base.

Bitech, a subsidiary of Transworld Information Systems, Inc., USA is part of

a transnational conglomerate with business interest in engineering,

construction, shipping and trading. Bitech, set up with an objective to provide

total IT solutions covering consultancy, training, off-shore and on-site

projects, and its associates have an annual turnover of US $20 million. In

India, Bitech has branches in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai besides more

than 40 franchisee centers for its education and training activities.