The company plans to double its existing staff strength and recruit 50 new people. QAI, which is basically a consulting and training organisation, has trained over 35,000 customers in the Indian industry and does benchmarking and SEI-CMM and PCMM assessments for software companies. Its customers include big software names like, Hughes, Mastek, TCS, SingTel, Datamatics, NIIT, IBM, Wipro, Lucent and PriceWaterhouse Coopers. "We will leverage our global partners, big customer base and the respect that Indians have in the field of software development," says Mr Mohnot. At the backend, it will be a bricks and clicks business model and the front-end dotcom models. Most of our customers will manage channels in the proposed portal, he adds. According to him, India is following Japan's software activities.

In 60s and 70s, people used to flock to Japan to learn how to build cars. Today, the world is coming to India to learn how to build and manufacture software. "We want to take these competencies to the world. We have the space and positioning, we just need to leverage it," adds Mr Mohnot.

He is confident that the company's foray into the Net will be a huge extension of its existing profile, and will not end up being a flash in the pan. He claims, "What will differentiate us from the other portals in the Internet space is that we intend to create value for our shareholders - real value, for which customers will pay real money and get real returns. This portal will not be just about advertising to attract eyeballs." Mr Mohnot, Global Knowledge Corporation is the part of an overall e-strategy.