ICICI Infotech Services has forged a strategic alliance with IMS System Co of Korea, for accessing the source code and exclusive rights for marketing Newtono -- a scalable core banking solution.

P Radhakrishna, joint president, ICICI Infotech said: "ICICI Infotech has a large array of solutions addressing different business areas of the banking vertical. We have always felt the need for having a core banking solution to tie the entire loop of offerings. With this partnership, we will be able to offer an end-to-end solution to banks. Since the source code of Newtono is available to our team in India, we will be able to respond to our customers in a shorter time-frame."

"We have been working together informally for some time and have already formed a joint team to work on localisation of the product. We foresee the potential and anticipate market opportunity at about $100 million over the next five years," he added.

Ian Thompson, executive vice-president (international marketing), IMS, said: "We were looking for a partner with a 100 per cent focus on banking and financial services and ICICI Infotech has enough expertise in this segment."

The combination of IMS System with ICICI Infotech's expertise in the country will be further enhanced by using the front-end system Beam, supplied by Apak Beam Ltd of Cyprus, to provide a complete solution for client banks.

The two companies are also exploring other strategic options, including using ICICI Infotech resources in India on IMS projects worldwide and promoting ICICI Infotech products and services through strong channels of IMS in north Asia (Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China).