The government of Maharashtra today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft India to enhance information and communication technology adoption in schools and build job readiness skills of the future workforce in the state.

MS to build IT skills in Maha schools

Business Standard

New-Delhi based IT services provider, HCL Technologies &mdash; which signed a $350 million (around Rs 1,700 crore) seven-year IT operations and management deal with Reader&rsquo;s Digest Association (RDA) in March this year &mdash; says RDA&rsquo;s filing for bankruptcy, under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, will not affect the deal.

Bankruptcy not to affect outsourcing deal: HCL Tech

Progress Software India, the India arm of US-based Progress Software Corporation, is looking to tap data integration markets in India, particularly in aviation and telecom sectors. To this effect, the company is already in talks with at least two major telecom players apart from some airports that have announced to upgrade their information technology infrastructure, according to its vice-president (products) and centre head Ramesh Loganathan.

Progress Software to focus on telecom, airports

Unitech Wireless, in which Norway-based Telenor Group holds a 49 per cent stake, has secured a Rs 5,000-crore loan from State Bank of India (SBI). The company will use the loan to finance the rollout of its operations in the country. The loan, syndicated by SBI Capital Markets, includes bank guarantees and a letter of credit, Unitech Wireless said in a release issued here today.

Unitech Wireless gets Rs 5k-cr loan from SBI

To boost the prospects of Lucknow as an IT hub, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) chamber Indian Industries Association (IIA) and Association of Knowledge Workers, Lucknow (AKWL), have formed an IT Working Group comprising representatives of leading IT companies of Lucknow.

Lucknow gets IT Working Group

WNS, the NYSE-listed business process outsourcing (BPO) player, continues to attract expressions of interest from its peers, as well as private equity players, to acquire the 50 per cent stake in it of investor firm, Warburg Pincus.

KKR, Bain Cap join race to acquire 50% stake in WNS

The information technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) companies, based in the South reported an operating income of about Rs 60,000 crore in 2008-09, an increase of 15 per cent over last year, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Southern Region Quarterly Industry and Economic Update for IT and ITeS Industry.

IT/ITeS firms operating income grows 15%

Radio companies like Big FM, RadioCity and Fever FM are not only revamping their websites to make them more interactive, but also taking to social networking in a big way to monetise the online space for additional revenues.

Radio cos catch the social networking site bug

Samsung Electronics and Motorola are gearing up to launch handsets based on Google&rsquo;s Android operating system (OS) in India.

Android phones call on Indian consumers

Worms and viruses have traditionally infected email addresses and files in computers, but now malicious software (malware) can infect your system through instant messaging (IM).

Spam becomes spIM

Telcos, handset makers and mapping information engine companies are now focusing on paid location based services (LBS) like traffic updates, directions, finding the nearest ATMs and restaurants, fleet and individual tracking to add to their value-added services portfolio.

Paid location-based services struggle to find favour with individuals

Having provided mobile internet solutions to 20 million customers worldwide, world&rsquo;s third largest PC vendor, Acer, is targeting 6-7 per cent market share worldwide in the smartphone category.

Acer eyeing 10% market in smartphone category

Touted as India's answer to Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual Earth, Bhuvan &mdash; a geoportal that allows users to explore a virtual world for free in a 3D environment, with specific emphasis on India &mdash; is receiving phenomenal response. Just seven days after it was launched on August 13, nearly 23,000 people from 70 countries around the world have been downloading it daily &mdash; amounting to156,000 downloads till date.

Bhuvan makes a splash in cyberspace

South Africa-based Cura Risk Management Software will be investing $5 million (approximately Rs 24.5 crore) for setting up a facility in Hyderabad that would take up research and development (R&amp;D), business development and offer back-end support, according to its chief executive officer Avi Eyal.

Cura Risk Mgmt to invest $5mn in Hyderabad

When a leading global supplier of passenger automobiles did not find the desired impact on job performance after various instructor-led, course-based programmes due to low-literacy level and different cultural backgrounds among its factory workers, the company created a vivid presentation using animations, simulations and procedural videos that increased curiosity among the workers who absorbed the messages in the highly-graphic training presentations.

Corporates invest in innovative training to manage costs

Bharti Airtel today announced that its deadline for the $23 billion share-swap deal with MTN, the South African telecom firm, is being extended till September 30. It also, for the first time, stated that the discussions between the two were &ldquo;progressing satisfactorily&rdquo;.

Bharti extends MTN talks deadline to Sept-end

Three major telecom companies have joined the race to acquire GSM service provider Aircel Cellular&rsquo;s passive telecom infrastructure, valued at around $2.5 billion.

GTL Infra, Essar in race for Aircel tower assets

The academy has been set up under private-public partnership funded by the Centre with Rs 12 crore coming from the Confederation of Indian Industry, Santhosh Babu, managing director of Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, said. He was speaking at a CII seminar on ICT for small and medium enterprises here.

ICT Academy to be inaugurated on Aug 27

The Union ministry of corporate affairs is putting in place an &lsquo;early warning system&rsquo; to prevent recurrence of frauds like that of Satyam Computer Services, according to minister Salman Khurshid.

Early warning to prevent Satyam repeat: Khurshid

Faced with the prospect of the 10-digit series of mobile numbers being exhausted soon, owing to the rapid growth in mobile telephony, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), a telecom research and development organisation, is studying whether the Unique Identity Number could be converted into mobile numbers.

Soon, your UID number could become your mobile number

Press Trust of India

The fortunes of personal computers (PC) manufacturers may change soon with consumers, small- and medium businesses (SMBs) and the government going on a buying spree in the second half of calendar year 2009.
Calendar year 2008 was a bad one for the PC industry with the total sales of PCs (desktops and notebooks) between April 2008 and March 2009 at just 6.79 million units -- a decline of 7 per cent YoY, according to a recent report by Manufacturers&rsquo; Association for Information Technology

PC sales to look up in second half of 2009

Tech News: Latest Techn news & updates on Smart Watches, Gaming Console, iOS updates with launch date and price straight from Business Standard.com.

Page 2169 - Tech News