The GoI succeeds in its efforts to get the Media Lab Asia to pick India as a destination; Bollywood major Tips gets set to offer e-music; and the ERnet is finally in for a face-lift.

Team BT

e-trend

Here's conclusive evidence that external stimuli activates an inert nervous system. Close on the heels of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) announcement regarding the setting up its Media Lab Asia in India, comes the Union Cabinet's approval of a Rs 196-crore plan to upgrade ERnet (Education and Research Network).

The new broadband ERnet will come with a clutch of value-added apps and fulfil the it-communication needs of the education and research community.

The Rs 196 crore pales into insignificance in the light of the tag on the Media Lab Asia project. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore and the GoI's contribution will be 20 per cent of the amount. Set up as a joint venture between the government and the MIT Media Lab, the Asia Lab is to be headquartered in the Mumbai-Pune belt. The Indian centre will also be the Lab's second international facility, after the Europe-lab located in Ireland.

The Asia Lab will be a network of people and laboratories working to take education and health to those who need them most, leveraging the latest in information- and communication-technology in the process.

e-news

NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE, Co-founder, MIT Media Labs: Will the Asia Lab help bridge the digital divide?

Satyam Infoway plans to upgrade the networking infrastructure in 'i-ways'-its Internet browsing centres. It will offer broadband on demand to its franchisees using fixed wireless technology.

The ISP has been conducting a pilot study in 10 of its 'i-ways' in Chennai for the last month. Sify has a chain of 301 cyber cafes across six cities, apart from 60 Hindustan Petroleum speednets at hp petrol bunks. In January, 2001, Sify tied-up with the California-based data network solutions company Adaptive Broadband Corp, which develops technology for the deployment of broadband wireless communications over the Internet.

This may well be how it all begins. Tips Industries, the bollywood-music major, has entered into a strategic alliance with Singapore-based Soundbuzz.com for distributing music through the Net. The aim is to allow users to download a selected track instantly. According to company officials, the downloads will be priced between 75 cents and $2 per track.

And now the buzz in the venture capital circuit: the Gaurav Dalmia-Saurabh Srivastava led Infinity Venture Fund has initiated preliminary discussions to float a $100 million (about Rs 470 crore) fund within 12 months, to coincide with the exhaustion of its first fund of Rs 145 crore.

Infinity's major investments so far have been in dotcoms like Indiabulls, Indiagames, eMecklai, Coolstartups, Agencyfaqs, Broadcastindia, and Expopoint.

Many of Infinity's investments are now ready for second stage funding, which would require the involvement of other venture capitalists. Lack of funds at this stage could jeopardise the viability of these companies, point out analysts.
  

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