Monday, November 5, 2001		Newsscape

The Sun One starter kit gives Web developers an assortment of products and technologies. Sun Microsystems Inc. has taken aim at software leader Microsoft Corp. by launching several products meant to set the standards for Web services, which could change the way the Internet is used, Hindustan Times says. Web services are applications that are designed to work together and automate tasks over the Internet. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is expected to release its own Web services as part of its .Net product suite. Santa Clara, California-based Sun said it is offering a Sun ONE (Sun Open Network Environment) starter kit. This kit will include products and technology for Web developers and information technology architects who are looking to develop services that can be delivered via the Web.

IndiaMart.com, India’s sole dotcom company to have broken even and shown cash profits according to the Business World-Netsense survey of dotcom profitability conducted in May 2001, has recorded a 92 per cent rise in half yearly profits with 61 per cent growth in revenues over the same period last year, according to a company’s release. The operating profits of the company went up by 69.6 per cent from Rs 13.9 lakh to Rs 34.7 lakh during the same period. One of the first Indian portals launched during the early phases of evolution of the Internet in India in 1996, IndiaMart not only achieved a break-even point but also has shown profits during all five years of its operations since 1996.

StreamSage Inc., a software company, has developed a software system that searches multimedia content by listening for keywords in the same way a normal search engine scans written Web material, The Washington Post reports. A user can punch in a name and fish out data from video clips on a Website. The company president, Seth Murray, said that once the broadband cable networks that are able to deliver multimedia content efficiently are in place, the system will become a commonplace element of the Internet used for research, entertainment and professional purposes. The software, now being tested by three private customers, will be ready for release in early 2002. First to be targeted in a sales campaign that’s just getting underway are financial institutions — so that stock traders will be able to search analysts’ meetings for mentions of specific companies — and media companies that have put streaming video and audio on their Websites.

The Chinese ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation has announced that it will hold a China Engineering and Technology Fair in Sharjah from November 5 to 8, Khaleej Times reported. Addressing a press conference last week at the Sharjah Expo Centre, Zhou Ping, division director of the department of foreign economic cooperation of the Chinese ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said the exhibition will further the trade and economic relations between China and the region that include the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). She said that, while this is the first exposition promoting Chinese engineering and technology in this region, it also provides an opportunity to the MENA countries to know more about China’s achievements in the field of engineering construction since China’s adoption of reform and open-up policy.