Fourth Dimension Mulls Infotech Arms' Merger

The Chennai-based Fourth Dimension group is weighing the merger of its information technology companies Congruent Software and Srishti Information Technologies with itself.

"We are looking at bringing the three companies under the Fourth Dimension name,'' J Balaraman, director of Congruent Software, said.

Fourth Dimension, the regional distributor for Motorola (Information Systems group), provides network and systems integration services. It also has strategic tie-ups with Hewlett Packard, Compaq and 3Com.

The company had acquired a 50 per cent equity stake in Congruent Software in April this year.

Congruent Software, had initially started off as the infotech division of the Rs 20-crore Sargam group with interests in alloys and testing.

Besides, enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation for medium-sized companies, Congruent Software is also developing expertise in new areas such as work flow automation and web enabling.

Congruent Software had recently bagged a $2.1 lakh order from Saudi Information Development Industries for the implementation of ERP software. It is planning to focus on providing ERP implementation to medium-sized companies.

Fourth Dimension and Congruent Software had jointly promoted Srishti Interactive Technologies in 1996. This 60:40 joint venture is mainly involved in creating premium quality multimedia content.

It had recently developed one of the largest multimedia applications, with an estimated viewing time of over 45 hours, for the Taj Coromandel here in the city.

The Fourth Dimension group is also open to the possibility of placing equity with venture capital firms. This is one of the reasons which has driven the group towards considering a merger of the three companies, it is learnt.

In another development, Congruent has teamed up with Srishti to deliver an application for Citibank.

This is a computer-based testing and certification application to be implemented by Citibank in 16 countries.