Aptech has entered into a strategic alliance With e-business portal services company, Rediff-on-the-Net, to offer computer eduction on Net. "The joint initiative will help build 50,000 netizens in India during 1999," Aptech managing director Ganesh Natarajan said on Wednesday. Aptech computer courses would be available to the students, executives and Indian netizens via Rediff.com, he said, adding that the company would offer free electronic mail and home pages for the Indian students enrolling for Aptech courses up to July 1999.

NIIT on market expansion drive in US, Europe

NIIT Ltd is giving strategic focus in increasing its marketing access in the US and Europe along with India by expanding the network, company chief operating officer P Rajendran said on Wednesday. "NIIT has already taken up strengthening of top management by reallocation of responsibilities aiming at the new policy of market thrust," Rajendran said in Mumbai, afterannouncing NIIT's partnership with Microsoft India to provide training on its latest software - MS Office 2000.

CAG begins audit of Y2K compliance by PSUs

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has begun audit of steps taken by government-owned companies to make their administrative systems Y2K compliant. Following a circular from the department of electronics to review steps taken for Y2K compliance, auditors have been looking at compliance of administrative systems of PSUs, sources said. The audit was being been done for accounting and inventory control systems of various units of state-owned firms, sources said.

Compaq in tie-up with IGA

Compaq India has entered into a strategic alliance with Intelligroup Asia Ltd (IGA) to address the requirements of ERP customers in the country. As part of the agreement, both the companies would work as preferred partners in selected segments and customer organisations. IGA will be responsible for consulting, ERP and e-commerce solutionsimplementation, optimisation and maintenance, system management and network design, while Compaq will be responsible for installation of ERP, DBMS, OS and hardware.

Motorola, Cisco in pact

Motorola and Cisco System have announced an agreement to jointly purchase the fixed wireless assets of Bosch Telecom Inc. in Richardson, Texas, in the US. Bosch Telecom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Robert Bosch Corporation in Germany. In purchasing Bosch Telecom, Cisco and Motorola will create a jointly-owned company called Spectrapoint Wireless.

Samsung, Nortel Networks to jointly make mobile-picture phones

Samsung and Nortel Networks have agreed to jointly develop a next-generation mobile video phone, Samsung said on Wednesday. Samsung and Nortel Networks last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Toronto to develop the system, known as IMT-2000. Samsung will undertake the development of an imt-2000 handset for mobile pictures, while Nortel will develop the service.

Philipslaunches LCD monitors

Philips India on Wednesday announced the launch of a 15.1-inch liquid crystal display monitors. The monitor incorporates high performance flat panel technology and includes features such as multimedia capabilities, two front firing speakers on the sides and a microphone. Unlike other non-LCD products, Philips said the new monitor does not emit any radiation. The company has also launched a range of colour monitors of various sizes between 14 inch and 21 inch. The colour monitors are available in two segments: E series -- for the SOHO segment; Brilliance -- for high-end applications, besides the LCD series.