Speaking to The Financial Express, Sen said, "we have received tremendous response to the e-commerce course launched by Asset International, our high-end training division. Enquiries at Asset centres have doubled since the ecom@asset course was introduced."

Among the enquiries received so far by Aptech, around 20 per cent are for specific modules by professionals who already have some grounding in e-commerce. "We will be able to organise the short module courses for corporates within a month. In these cases we will be assured of a full strength class. However, to offer these courses to the public, it will take a little more time as we have to judge the market demand and also create awareness."

Asset's course is based on a capsule provided by IBM and the students also get an IBMcertification at the end of the course. The Asset division of Aptech has targeted a turnover of Rs 50 crore for the financial year 1999.

"The short module courses will be launched simultaneously in all centres of Asset as the launch of the ecom@asset was staggered with the Mumbai launch coming in January and the launch in the eastern sector coming in April-May," Sen said.

Among those who have enrolled for the course are 40 per cent working professionals with software or engineering background. Another 40 per cent are students and the rest are a miscellaneous group with people interested in starting a business in e-commerce. The curriculum covers training in IBM products like Net Commerce, Firewall and concepts like internet security and web administration along with networking and advanced web programming.