Premier IT Event Turns Low-key Following Meltdown, Floods

Bangalore, Nov 11 (IANS):  Global meltdown and the flash floods in north Karnataka have forced the organisers of BangaloreIT.Biz 2009, a premier IT event, to shift the venue to a hotel from the sprawling Bangalore Palace grounds and shorten it by two days.

"As a sympathetic gesture to the flood-hit people in the state, we have decided to keep the BangaloreIT.Biz 2009 low-profile," said Karnataka IT and biotechnology minister K. Subramanya Naidu Wednesday at the event's inaugural function.

"We are also aware of the difficulty the IT industry has been facing due to the impact of global recession on outsourcing," he said at the 12th edition of the event, which will now be held over three days.

Absence of high-profile dignitaries like Minister of State for IT and Communications Gurudas Kamat, who was to inaugurate the event, and state Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who was to preside over the function, also dampened the two-hour long proceedings.

State Home Minister V.S. Acharya substituted for Kamat and Naidu inaugurated the exhibition on behalf of Yeddyurappa.

The presence of Azim Premji of global software major Wipro and Cisco chief technology officer Padma Warrier at the opening ceremony was a face-saver for the otherwise drab annual expo.

The event's partner country, Chile is represented by its economic ministry head Mario Castillo, who is leading a delegation of that country's investment promotion board.

About 800 delegates, 100 exhibitors and 90 speakers from diverse industry verticals are participating in the three-day event, which has "ICT for a billion people" as its focal theme.

"Though the event has been kept simple in light of austere measures adopted by the state government for rehabilitating the flood-hit people, we have not diluted the importance of the IT industry," said state IT Secretary Ashok Kumar Manoli.

Besides Indian IT bellwethers Infosys, Wipro and TCS and multinationals such as IBM, Intel, Dell and Cisco, the governments of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Assam and Tamil Nadu are also participating in the trade show.

"About 10 start-ups will showcase technologies and business ideas to venture capitalists and industries," Manoli said.