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  The Times of India, India August 18, 2006  

Forum to expand IT in city

The Mysore IT forum gears up to expand the sector in the city with events, and working with the government to improve infrastructure - Deepti Ganapathy reports

It’s finally happening here. The city that set the ball rolling by introducing the concept of IT mela, even before Bangalore hosted the much-hyped event has arrived on the global IT block. The Mysore IT Forum is pursuing its goals with renewed strength.

Venkatesh S.V., one of the founders of the forum explains that the IT companies had come together in 1997 and were known as Deal IT. “We had organized IT.Com here, much before Bangalore IT.Com came into being,” he says. Deal IT organized the Mysore IT.Com for the next four years. In 2002, it came to be called as the Mysore IT Forum and President Kalam inaugurated the IT.Com event in the city.

“We were a small group of entrepreneurs from the hardware and software sectors, three years ago. We have been active, by sharing ideas and expertise within the association. But now we are all set to revamp our forum and are in the process of renewing our activities,” says Sripathy K. R, President of the Mysore IT Forum.

The Forum has around 25 members now, but hopes to increase the numbers to 40 over the months. It has six verticals – the software services, hardware sector, ISP providers, IT enabled services, dealers and those involved in training and education. All these six verticals have different issues, and the challenge before the forum lies in restructuring it in order to ensure that each vertical is well-represented and incorporated in the forum.

“The forum has become a bigger platform now. Though we are active internally, we need more resources and require a dedicated team to focus on issues and the re-introduction of IT.Com after a gap of three years. We are definitely working towards this,” asserts Venkatesh. The forum will be the Apex body and cater to the needs and requirements of its members. Companies in the forum also plan to use the platform to channelise information, ensure safety norms for their employees and demand for better infrastructure.

The main objectives of the forum :
  1. To come within the ambit of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
  2. To work closely with the CII and get proper accreditation to the medium
  3. To bring a formal nomenclature to the gathering
  4. To rope in the several new entrants in the IT scenario in the city, including the big wigs.
They also inducted new members during this re-energizing meet. S Ravi Shankar, Vice President, SPI is very optimistic about the future of the forum. Having attended the meet as a new member, he feels that it will give collective voice to IT companies in Mysore. “SPI wants to be a part of the forum. We have redefined our business plans and are doubling our human resources. The forum will give us strength to create a synergy. It will help redefine Mysore as an IT destination,” says Ravi Shankar.


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