The consortium will be launched in Bangalore this week. It is an initiative of Quality Assurance Institute (India), a joint venture between QAI of USA and Intecos India, a management company.

The consortium member companies will coordinate and share their own data on quality certification and compare products and processes regularly. An annual awards will also be instituted in this field.

The launch will be part of a three-day quality conference which is being held in Bangalore from Wednesday. The Software Engineering Process Group (SPEG) conference, first of its kind in Asia, will be attended by some of the top professionals in the industry.

An annual feature in USA and Europe, the SPEG conferences are sponsored by Software Engineering Institute (SEI) USA, andare popular annual industry events which provide a platform for exchange of learning on software quality, software process improvement and software engineering.

The Bangalore conference will be co-sponsored by the Centre for Information Systems Engineering of the Carnegie Mellon University (CISE), USA and supported by National Association of Software and Services Companies and Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore.

TCS, IBM Global Services, Citicorp Information Technology Industries, Motorola, Infosys, NIIT, Hughes Software Systems, Verifone, Oracle India development centre, Wipro Infotech, Siemens Information Systems and Tata Infotech are among the Indian companies which will take part in the Bangalore conference.

The theme for the conference is `Competitive Advantage Through Process Improvement'. It will provide a platform for the exchange best software quality and process improvement practices. ``Process improvement being critical for productivity, quality and cycle time reduction, it is thekey for paving the way for innovation," said QAI executive director Navyug Mohnot.

The four-day event will consist of two tutorial days and two conference days. The conference days will include keynote addresses, presentations and panel discussion.

QAI had set shop in Delhi in 1993 with an eye on the huge market for software process improvement (SPI) services in the country. It is part of the QAI network spanning USA, Europe and Canada.

In the last five years, a major change has come about in Indian software quality, pointed out Mohnot. Today, India has 458 certified quality analysts (CQAs) and is second only to USA as the country with the maximum number of CQAs. TCS, with 250 CQAs, has the largest number of number employed in a single company worldwide.

QAI is helping several organisations achieve SEI's five-layered capability maturity model (CMM) for software process improvement. Initially, QAI helped companies like Hughes, Oracle, IDC and Datamatics ready themselves for ISO 9000 certification. Acompany usually implements ISO standard first as it is applicable to all industries, while CMM is a richer and more detailed.Process improvement focuses on organising the activities and workflow in a company effectively in order to generate efficiency and productivity in the workforce and the company. Process Improvement helps in developing capabilities, building teams and culture, motivating and managing performance and shaping the workforce.

The institute offers full service software process improvement and quality management to these companies. Along with consulting, it also imparts training, individual level certification and tools, informed Mohnot.

Internet conference on March 8

NEW DELHI: More than 150 internet service providers from India as well as abroad are expected to take part in a three-day conference to be held in Chandigarh from March 8.

Participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, the US and Japan would discuss the latest technologies in the field of information super highway atthe `ISP Vision 2000'.

The conference, being organised by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Internet Consortium of India, would focus on latest advances in the field of providing internet services by small and big operators. The subjects to be discussed during the conference will include business opportunities on the net, improving of internet services with increasing customers, remote controlling of internet servers, cost effectiveness connecting internet through cable medium and net education.

According to an STPI release, internet is growing at a rate of 10 per cent per month in the country and at present there are about 2,50,000 internet users.