Globarena plans major overseas marketing drive

Seeks US patent for one of its products

City-based Globarena Web Technologies Private Limited, an e-learning and knowledge solutions provider, is gearing up for a major marketing drive for its products in the US and the Middle East during the current financial year.

It provides content and data protection solutions digital rights management, secure messaging and custom content generation software under the brand name 'Digilox'.

Naren Ayyar, chief executive officer of Globarena, said that the company has applied for a US patent for a particular process in Digilox Instant Financial Messaging System (IFMS).

"We have designed, developed and implemented a process which involves tying digital content, in this case secured messages, to a specific client system. We have implemented a 448-bit encryption based on BlowFish Algorithm to ensure maximum data security in IFMS. We applied for a US patent in April 2004 and expect to get the patent in the next six months," he said. The company is also slated to get ISO 9002 by the month-end.

Set up in 2000 with an investment of Rs 15 crore, Globarena achieved operational break even in June this year. While the turnover this fiscal is expected to cross Rs 3 crore, the growth momentum is expected next fiscal when its products would begin to make an impact in the US.

Last year Bangladesh's federal bank "� the Bank of Bangladesh "� selected IFMS, which facilitates creation and exchange of messages at the highest security levels. The IFMS is going live at Agrani Bank this month, while Sonali Bank will start a pilot project of IFMS this month. The company is now planning to enter the Middle East and the domestic market, besides the US.

Globarena has developed 3,000 hours of e-learning content for IT courses, marketing and soft skills. It also develops the content for over a dozen companies like ICICI Bank, Infosys, Wipro.

In the first year of its product launch, it implemented a Rs 3-crore e-learning package for the distance-learning programme of Osmania University last year.

It has also developed e-learning solutions for the University of Washington, Seattle, and the University of Sciences, Philadelphia. It is at present in talks with some universities in India and abroad to offer its products.

There are two companies operating in the Globarena group "� Globarena Iteknowledge and Globarena Web Technologies. Globarena Iteknowledge has three products "� Neovistas (e-Learning), Placementor (career training in colleges) and CareerCampus (instructor-led career training).

Globarena Web has one brand Digilox and several products under it. The group has a 150-strong R&D team including 12 PhDs.

Globarena also runs CareerCampus, which provides instructor-led training for courses like GRE. It also offers coaching for the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) examination for nurses. This year, the company is planning to offer franchises for CareerCampus across the country.