Monday, November 12, 2001		Newsscape

Ad spending slashed

COMAPNIES engaged in imparting information technology education have slashed spending on advertising, aas they anticipate a fall in enrolments due to global slowdown, Hindustan Times quoted a ORG Marg survey last week. In the six month period ending September 2001, expenses incurred on advertising by IT learning companies have fallen by 22.7 per cent to Rs 131.44 crore from Rs 170.09 crore in the corresponding period last year. If the current trend is any indication, the decline in ad-spend in future will be sharper. In fact, leading IT institutes have reduced their ad-spend by 15 to 45 per cent in the past six months.

Satyam@China

Satyam Computer Services is planning to open a solutions centre in Shanghai to tap the potential business opportunities offered by the Chinese market as also to serve as an outsourcing centre to service the neighbouring markets, The Hindu reports. The inauguration is tentatively slated for December 24 and will start off with 20 professionals in the first phase.

Settling disputes

Disputes over the ownership of the Internet address of local Websites can soon be resolved without going to court, saving time and money for the disputing parties, The Straits Times said. Starting November 15, the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) will launch a new system to adjudicate on .sg Website name disputes. It is working with the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre to manage this new service. Previously, such disputes had to be settled in court if the disputing parties could not agree. The SGNIC is the authority that administers .sg Internet addresses or domain names for the Websites. Phang Hsiao Chung, executive director of the Singapore Mediation Centre, said the new system can resolve disputes in about a month for as little as $2,750. This saves time and money, since a typical lawsuit can cost tens of thousands of dollars and last for months to a year.

Japanese crisis

Growing competition from Asian rivals, sinking semiconductor prices and a global electronics slump that is worsening after the terrorist attacks are sending the top names in Japanese electronics crashing into embarrassingly deep losses, AP says. Even the companies’ executives acknowledge this nation’s once mighty electronics sector has dived into a crisis more serious than ever before. All major electronics companies, except for Sony Corp, are forecasting staggering losses for the fiscal year ending in March. After decades of building success on mono zukuri - a phrase that simply means "making things" - this country’s manufacturers are discovering they have failed to respond quickly enough to global competition to come up with the ideas, technologies and services that allow them to one-up their rivals.

Office in Dubai

KLG Systel, a company that provides training programs on engineering-based subjects using software applications, has announced setting up of office at the Dubai Internet City. The company has been operating in the Middle-East market through an MoU with Emirates Technology Company LLC (EMITAC) and took the decision to ramp up its presence in the region to tap the business opportunity that exists in this market for organisational life cycle solutions such as plant design, automation, supply chain management, power systems and solutions and e-commerce. The company also announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with leading global companies such as Rebis Inc. and Manibota Research Ltd to address the growing demand for plant design solutions in countries like UAE, Saudi, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain.