As part of the deal, Aptech will invest $1 million in the development of theportals in the first phase and take a stake in each of these sites. Thiswill include the refinement and completion of CyberDome's gaming portal,GameCasters, which was so far known as CyberdomeOnline. US-based VentureTechis a high technology investment and finance company that commercialisesleading edge technologies for emerging markets.

It had announced in November last year that it was acquiring privately-heldCyberDome Entertainment of Canada. The transaction is expected to close uponthe completion of due diligence and US GAAP audit of the financialstatements this year. ``We have successfully executed challenging portalprojects all over the world and aim to emerge as a leading e-architectworldwide. The community-building strategy is one which we stronglysupport.

Assisting CyberDome and VentureTech in developing their online communitiesrepresents an exciting opportunity to showcase our capabilities to the NorthAmerican audience,'' Aptech president and CEO Ganesh Natarajan told TheFinancial Express.

The alliance will result in a family of unique, informative and excitingsites for prospective online members, he added. Aptech will take anunspecified equity position in addition to the fees to ensure ongoingtechnical and managerial support to the sites.

Each site is intended to have a strong revenue model and feature proprietaryor unique benefits for members. The promoters might, at a later stage,decide to spin these off as separate companies after development and thelaunch, he indicated.

While the sites will be developed as independent business units, these willhave the ability to draw upon Aptech's core team of professionals in areassuch as legal, accounting, finance, investor relations, SEC matters,technical and marketing.

Each site will be developed with the potential for multiple revenue streamsand the intention of becoming profitable early on. Aptech will play a keyrole in furthering the multiple community strategy, according to Natrajan.