Convergence India 2001 got off to a lively start with the experts panel running into a controversy over whether evolution or revolution should be the path to the immense opportunities that technology convergence offered even to a developing country like India.

“With broadband we are at the crossroads” said  the suave and erudite Mr. M. S. Verma. Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India presiding over the panel discussion, the curtain raiser to the main event. The theme “Broadband- the road to convergence” attracted over 300 of the top decision-makers in the telecom, IT and broadcast industries and the Department of Telecommunications.

The TRAI Chairman recalled that the last six months had brought significant changes in Europe and the US.  These had focussed again on the opportunities that broadband provided. It was therefore imperative that Indian policy too reassessed its pace of change over to the broadband networks.

 Mr. M S Verma, Chairman, TRAI,  chairing the panel discussion at the launching of
Convergence India 2001 at New Delhi. Also seen Mr. Bill Cowper, Director-Asia Pacific,
Sun Microsystems Inc. and Mr. Shekhar Das Gupta, Country Manager, Oracle India

In a passionate plea over the comparative advantages of evolutionary and revolutionary path to broadband networks, Rolf Bergmann, vice-president of Andrew company of Germany claimed that step by step move towards the UMTS would be the wise path. But Bharti BT CEO Atul Kanwar fervently pleaded for IP based networks that would create opportunities for a wide range of content even to the rural users who needed them most.

“Focus is on the evolution of networks, voice to data to IP and finally transition to UMTS” Mr. Bergmann urged. “In a country like India there cannot be a jump from voice straight to UMTS”, he cautioned, particularly when applications had to develop and voice was increasingly becoming a commodity.

“We should be building the infrastructure for tomorrow” Mr. Kanwar said. “Switched packet networks are carrying several times more traffic than the circuit networks”. He reminded that the future networks would all be packet based. With VSNL monopoly on international traffic ending in 2002, there was an explosion of gateways based on packet switching that would seamlessly merge with international telecom networks.

But Mr. Bergmann pointed out that in the present system operators earned the most revenues with service providers and content makers having only 20 per cent of the earnings. In the UMTS operator’s revenue shrunk to 30 per cent with service and content providers making the most money.   The logic of that fact determined the type of networks to be built.

The technology changes meant, “network is the computer” Mr. Bill Cowper, Director- Asia-Pacific, Sun Microsystems, pointed out. He explained how the future as envisioned by Sun Micro in the networking had come true.  Mr. Rahul Swarup, CTO of Satyam Infoway referred to the need for national networks to be of world class for international connectivity without a hitch.  A range of services for corporate and home users would be available on a broadband network but we had to focus on reducing the cost of delivery.  He regretted the high cost of copper that was not justifiable. Also more spectrum was needed to accommodate the range of services.

A strong plea for Indian networks to make use of the opportunities that broadband could provide came from several participants at the panel discussion.  Mr. Kiran Karnik, MD of Discovery Channel said the cable system needed to be upgraded drastically to make use of broadband capabilities. Broadband enabled same cable to provide different services leading to the knowledge economy and information society. In this situation, content should be the focus. Content  “is changing our lives,” added Mr. Doug Triblehorn, CEO of Globecast of France.

In his concluding remarks TRAI Chairman referred to the different levels of the digital divide that existed. He thought broadband would come in time and would become a way of life. The regulator’s role would be to ensure that the networks move to that level. He stressed value of the content  “so that what we offer is something that is essential for the society”.  He revealed that some five to six thousand centers would come up, many of them in rural areas that would provide high-speed digital access.

Participating in a lively question and answer session Mr. Verma defined the regulators’ job was to intervene the least and regulate as lightly as possible. “The regulator should ensure that the road is laid and the vehicles run smoothly on it”.

 Audience at the Panel Discussion
 Mr. Prem Behl, MD, Exhibitions India Pvt. Ltd.,
Mr. Rahul Swaroop, CTO, Satyam Infoway and Mr. Kiran Karnik, MD Discovery Channel, India

“In the new millennium various technologies for telecommunications, IT and broadcasting are bound to get convergent and make opportunities for services to consumers at very affordable prices a reality.” Addressing a packed audience at the launch of the Convergence India 2001 Mr. Prem Behl, MD, Exhibitions India recalled that between Convergence India 1999 and the current event, cataclysmic changes have challenged our businesses.

There is good news on the policy front.  We now have a capable and competent regulator in position.  With such a regulatory body we have begun a new chapter of confidence in gaining the right guidance in navigating the stormy seas of tsunami like technological changes taking place in telecommunications, computing and broadcasting.

We are twice blessed here in that this convergence event is presided over by the TRAI chairman Mr. M S Verma whose wise leadership has meant so much for the smooth transition. Twice blessed because we are holding this event at a critical stage when we are moving over from disparate technologies to a converging environment.  And a Convergence Bill is already on the anvil, Mr. Behl said.

There is a growing appetite for broadband services, made possible by rapid acceleration and availability of bandwidth, wireline and wireless access and interactive cabling.  Our event highlights all these opportunities, forecasted Mr. Behl.

We have here a brilliant panel of speakers.  Their discussions should help ring in the Convergence India 2001 event to focus on new opportunities.  There are of course some concerns like the political environment, the US slow down, and fears over raising an adequate level of resources for expansion of the telecom into a world class network.

This event has been made possible by the support of the converging industries of computer, communications and broadcasting that have invested wisely in informing, educating and elevating our people from the smoke stack industrial environment into the empowering knowledge era.

These industries therefore deserve a national “thank you” for the service they are rendering.  We all have a collective stake in making a success of convergence and riding into the knowledge era over broadband communications.  Our tryst with the convergent future starts here and now.  I also welcome our delegates and observers who have high expectations from this event.  I have no doubt that these expectations would be fulfilled, said Mr. Behl.

A number of OEM and Service Providers require quality products to run efficiently. Towards this end Mr. V. K. Gupta, MD, Delton Cables Limited said they have identified certain key areas of business operations and would be offering total turnkey solutions for Satellite Gateway Operators, VSAT Service Providers, Cellular Operators, FM Radio & Ku-Band DTH Operators and Broadband Internet Over Cable Network Operators.

Delton is closely monitoring the changing scenario in the Telecom, Broadcasting & IT Sectors in India. It has been our constant endeavor to provide products and services tailor made to customer specifications. We have a tie-up with a number of reputed International vendors like M/s Channel Master Inc., USA for DTH & VSAT Antenna; M/s LGP Telecom, Sweden for Tower Mounted Amplifier (TMA), Tower Mounted Booster (TMB), Filter, Diplexer etc; M/s Codan Pty Limited, Australia for Digital Point-to-Point MW Radio for PDH data applications through digital terrestrial microwave communications links; M/s Coresma, Israel for High Speed Internet over CATV, network using CMTS & cable modems. The solution is also available for multiple dwelling units and hotels; M/s Energy Onix Broadcast Equipment Inc., USA for FM transmitter (Solid State & Vacuum type etc.)

With the help of a highly motivated and technically efficient team, and the vast network of Delton we are looking to provide the total solution to the end user along with after sales support.

NEGNEI is pioneer in introducing Web Kiosks in India. Web Kiosk: TouchSurf  20XX is ideal for public information applications, internet surfing, website display in on-line or off-line mode. Features include rotating web pages in attract mode, rotating banner advertisements with hyperlinks and static buttons with hyperlinks, Touch-screen based keyboard is ideal for user feedback. Music, animation and video are other attractions. Options are available for credit card reader or coin machine for payment solutions. Kiosk comes with UPS back up and it can be configured for a variety of applications for Corporate, Exhibitions, Hotels, Travel, Banking, Insurance, Telecom, Health, Manufacturing, Retail and Dealer/Distributor networks. NEGNEI offers a complete solution for your specific application including Corporate Intranets, Account Information, Customer Services, Order Booking, Ticketing & Reservations, Exhibition Displays, Product Catalogues, Feedback Forms, Bills & Payments and Advertising & Promotions.

Sun was founded with one driving vision.  A vision of computers that talk to each other no matter who built them.  A vision in which technology works for you, and not the other way around.  It was the right vision, right from the start.  While others protected proprietary, stand-alone architectures, we focused on developing and integrating many of the core network technologies that today are at the heart of the Internet as well as corporate intranets and business-to-business extranets.

A singular vision, “The Network Is The Computer” has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc. to its position as a world’s leading provider of award-winning product, service and support solutions for building and maintaining network computing environments. 

Incorporated in February 1982, with just three employees, today with offices in 170 countries, Sun is a $15.7 billion global leader in network computing and is ranked 184 on Fortune 500 Index.

The Internet has already made an enormous impact on people’s lives and as a pioneer, Sun is the company at the heart of it.  Sun is the dot in the .com; the power behind the Internet and the Web enabled business. Sun boasts several groundbreaking technologies including Java, Jini, Solaris and Ultra Enterprise, Ultra Sparc, desktop workstations and servers.

Being a leader in the E-commerce space, Sun has designed a .com framework to help companies meet the needs of their transformed business by planning their technology architecture to enable their new business plans.

The Sun-Netscape Alliance enables companies to compete successfully in the Net Economy.  It enables remote access to mission-critical information through a secure, innovative and cost-efficient Web-based migration method via four support services:

• Communications Services
• Commerce Services
• Customer Services
• Custom Portal Services

Sun has established long-standing relationships with leading companies in the world to offer an end-to-end .com solution for the enterprise.  These best-of-breed solutions and services range from security offerings, systems and database management solutions, to ERP solutions.

Sun delivers a world class, integrated portfolio of services to assist customers in designing, planning, implementing and managing mission-critical enterprise computing solutions worldwide.  Reliability, Availability, Serviceability (RAS) are the essence of Sun’s product and service philosophy.

“The Broadband Access Opportunity"
Mr. Shashi Ullal, President & Managing Director, Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd., India

“Broadband - the Road to Convergence”
Mr. Nick Graham, Marketing Manager, Americom, Asia Pacific, Singapore

“Internet over CATV: Indian Experience”
Lt. Col. VC Khare (Retd.), Vice President- Technical, Hinduja Group of Companies, India

“Optimized Fiber for Terabit Transmission Bandwidth on Demand”
Mr.Michel Magon, Director-Marketing & Business
Development, Alcatel Optical Fiber, France

“The Undersea Market - An Overview of the TyCom Global Network”
Mr. Rajesh Kheny, Managing Director-Asia Pacific, Tycom, USA
Mr. Gokul Laroia, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd., Hong Kong

”Free Space Optics to solve the metro bandwidth chaos”
Dr. Heinz A. Willebrand, Founder and CTO,
LightPointe Communications Inc, USA

”Applications of SDH and DWDM”
Mr. A M Gopalakrishnan, Associate VP, Fibcom India

“Managed Weavelength Services Bandwidth Options, Commercial Applications and Values”
Mr. James Demers, Director, Optical Internet Solutions (Asia), Nortel Networks

  Work Shop on Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) by Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), Switzerland

“DVB in 2001”
Ms. Nahid Khan, MarComms Executive, DVB  Switzerland

“Standardisation and Market Introduction of  MHP”
Mr. Jean-Pierre Evain, Senior Engineer, EBU (EuropeanBroadcasting Union), Switzerland

“Developing Interactive TV Applications using MHP APIs”
Sun Microsystems

“Audio Systems for Digital TV”
Mr. John Couling, Professional Product Manager, Dolby Laboratories, UK

“Status of DVB-T in India”
Mr. B.K. De, Engineer in Chief, AIR & Doordarshan, India
Mr. A.S. Guin, Chief Engineer, AIR & Doordarshan, India

“Converging Content vs Diverging User Experience”
Mr. Jeffery Brown, Managing Director-Asia Pacific, OpenTV

“On the possibilities of advanced MHP applications”
Mr. Fabian Beutin, Software Engineer & Project Manger, Convergence Integrated Media

Q & A session
Mr. Jean-Pierre Evain, Senior Engineer, EBU (European Broadcasting Union), Switzerland

Workshop by Intel Capital

“Intel Capital-Investing in the Internet Building Blocks”

“Intel Capital Overview & Investment Strategy”
Mr. Siddhartha Das, Director, Intel Capital, India

“Building Networks for Global Communications”

“Building N/Ws for Global Broadband  Communications”
Shri N Vittal, Chief Vigilance Commissioner,
Central Vigilance Commission, India

“Building Next Generation N/Ws”
Mr. Prasad Yalamanchi, Vice President, Orillion, USA

“The Contrarian view : Building infrastructure in developing countries to facilitate Global Broadband  Interconnectivity”
Mr. Joel Maloff, Executive Vice President, Fusion Telecommunications International Inc, USA

“Next Generation Services for Next Generation Networks”
Mr. Eamonn Kearns, Telco Business Development Manager, Asia Pacific, Intel, Australia.

“Building Networks for Global Communications”
Mr. Vijay Kiyawat, Director Operations, Bharti Duraline Ltd., India

“Functionality & Capabilities of TMN (NM2100 nm) in Telecon Network Management”
Mr. Kjeld Andersen, Marketing Manager, Tellabs

“Building a World Class Telecommunication  Network  End to End Project Management view  point.”
Mr. Brian Wherry, Manager Global Operations, NDC, Australia

“Building Networks for Global Communications.”
Mr. Rich Phillips, Chief Communications Officer,  Simplified, UK

“New Vision for Satellite Communication in the 21st Century”
Mr. Doug Triblehorn, Chief Executive Officer, GlobeCast, France

“New Skies Satellites - Building the Broadband Neighbourhood for India”  
Mr. Srini Prasanna, Vice President, New Skies Satellites Ltd., UK
Mr. Anver Anderson, Manager-Marketing Development, Video Services, Europe*Star, UK
Mr. David Robson, Marketing & Sales Manager-South Asia, Eutelsat, France

“Agrani C & Ku band Project”
Mr. K. Narayanan, Executive Vice President, Agrani Satellite, India
Mr. David Hartshorn, Secretary General, Global VSAT Forum, UK

“The opportunities of VSAT Technology in a Broadband World”
Mr. Giora Reish, Marketing Director-South East Asia, Gilat, Israel

Workshop on VoIP

“Voice Quality (VQ) in Converging Telephony and IP Networks”
Mr. Henry Wong, Product Line Manager, Agilent Technologies

“The New World of IP Telephony Services”
Mr. Vijay Yadav, Country Manager, CommWorks, India

“Mission Critical Operating System”
Mr. Vijay Raj Vaidya, Global Product Manager, Solaris
Mr. Jahangir Raina, iLocus.com, UK
Mr. Vorasakdi Arora, Managing Director, iBasis, USA

“Servicing the e-generation Business”

“2001-Outlook for the Indian IT and Internet Industry”
Shri Amitabh Kumar, Director-Operations, VSNL, India

“Mobile Portal”
Mr. DP Venkatesh, Founder & CEO,          mPortal Inc, USA

“Legacy Business to e-business-A Strategy for the Next Generation”
Mr. N. Rajendra Raju, Vice President-Corporate Services, Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd.

“Migrating from GSM to GPRS to UMTS”
Mr. Viraj Pradhan, Senior Business Manager-Telecom, Tektronix,  South Asia Operations

“UMTS  Voice, Data, Video Go Mobile”
Dr. Rolf Bergmann, Vice President, Andrew GmbH, Germany

“Importance of Infrastructure in Building e-services Centers”
Mr. Rajesh Awasthi, Principal Consultant, Hewlett Packard, India

“Java in Wireless”
Mr. Mark Iskra, Technical Services Manager-Asia Pacific, NSP Software .

“Enabling e-business Networks”
Mr. Bala K Chandran, Managing Director, Krone India, India

"Emerging Delivery Systems”
Mr. J P Singh, CEO, ASC Enterprises, India

“Streaming Media in Indian Context-Present and the Future of the Interactive TV”
Mr. Shailendra Jit Singh, CEO, Jalva Media, Inc., USA

“Streaming Video an Indian Case Study”
Mr. Jasminder Gulati, Program Manager, Microsoft India, India

“Optical Access”
Mr. Aviv Halevy, Krone Optical Access, Israel
Mr. Larry Valencino,  Vice President, Intelsat “DTH”, USA

Workshop on “Cable Network International Bandwidth” by Singtel-Bharti
Theme: “International Bandwidth and India-threshold of a New Era”

“Domestic Networks-Value Proposition to Accessing International Capacity”
Mr. Viresh Dayal, Director-Project, Bharti Televentures Ltd., India

“Prerequisites of Cable Repairs and Maintenance”
Mr. Siew Ying Oak, SingTel, Singapore

“Introduction-Submarine Cable Business, Technology and Trends”
Mr. Hoh Wing Chee, SingTel, Singapore

“Submarine Cables & India-Gateway to the Information Superhighway”
Mr. Nitin Pai, SingTel, Singapore

“Bandwidth explosion in Asia Pacific”
Mr. Tay Yong Hwee, SingTel, Singapore