Eastward Ho!

New Delhi, Nov. 3: California-based IT vendor Oracle Corporation will focus on small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.

About 60-70 per cent of the IT expenditure in the country is expected to come from the flourishing SMB segment by 2008, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

“The engine of growth will be in the small and medium business space,” said Krishan Dhawan, managing director of Oracle India.

There are about 1.7 million companies in the SMB segment in the country and by 2008, the market for SMB-related IT solutions will be around Rs 900 crore.

“Around the world, 70 per cent of our users are SMBs. Now with smaller shelf lives of software and faster implementation time, our effort is to tap this market by providing faster, cheaper and smarter solutions customised for specific needs of that sector,” added Dhawan.

In line with the strategy to provide the consumer with business value, Oracle recently unveiled an expanded SMB solution ‘Oracle Accelerate’, which comprises industry-specific, pre-packed application bundles, rapid implementation tools and a growing network of certified Oracle applications resellers.

“Oracle Accelerate expands on our experience in this market and makes it faster and easier for customers and partners to leverage Oracle’s leading enterprise applications,” said Subhomoy Sengupta, director-application sales, Oracle India.

Working with the partner companies, Oracle has identified 80 product and industry-specific bundles that can help companies quickly take advantage of Oracle’s enterprise applications, without sacrificing flexibility and functionality.

Intel plan

Intel is still open to the idea of setting up an advanced testing and manufacturing unit in India and is awaiting the government's proposed semiconductor policy, which is expected to offer incentives to those interested in this sector.

“For the last 10 years, we have been asked this question on our India plans...It is still an open issue. We are eagerly waiting for the government's incentive package and we’ve had extensive discussions with the government,” Intel chairman Craig Barrett told reporters in New Delhi today.