Kerala IT firm gets two more foreign airline clients

January 10th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - It is advantage time for IT companies in Kerala. With Satyam under a cloud, the software companies in the state are busy trying to win over clients of the tainted IT bellwether even as they are flooded with job applications from Satyam employees.

February 17th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of the island nation, has opted for the city-based IBS Group's software 'iFly Loyalty' for handling its frequent flier programme and customer relationship management functions, the IT firm said here Wednesday. 'iFly is a new generation IT solution developed specifically for the evolving airline industry, and will set new standards in the market,' IBS Group chairman and chief executive V.K.

September 10th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala's IT sector will generate as many as 200,000 jobs in the next five years, state Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan said Thursday. Inaugurating a conference on IT in Kerala - Challenges and Opportunities, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, she said over 200 rural IT Parks (Techno Lodges) are expected to come up in the state in the next two to three years.

January 11th, 2009 CHENNAI - Perhaps for the first time in the Indian corporate history, an audit firm - and a foreign one at that - is being dumped midway by a company. The government-appointed new board for Satyam Computer Services has declared that the fraud-hit IT bellwether will have a new audit firm to restate the books of accounts.

September 8th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Tuesday told the Kerala assembly that talks would begin with Smart City Dubai Wednesday to take forward the proposed Smart City Kochi software township project.

January 19th, 2009 HELSINKI - Skytrax, the international airline survey website, has awarded Nordic carrier Finnair a four-star rating, it was announced here Tuesday. 'The four-star rating and the 'Quality Approved by Skytrax' designation make a global statement about Finnair as a quality company,' Markku Remes, responsible for the airlines' passenger experience development, said in a statement.

February 2nd, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - bmi, Britain's second largest airline and a Star Alliance member, has opted for Tehcnopark-headquartered IBS Software's new generation IT solution for managing loyalty programmes for its passengers, it was announced here Tuesday. The iFly Loyalty software will help the airline to administer its frequent flier programme (FFP) and customer relationship management (CRM) functionalities like campaign management, feedback management and even fraud detection, an IBS statement said.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Investment in information technology (IT) by airlines the worldover this year is likely to be the lowest since 2002, says SITA, an air transport communication provider. The 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey report by SITA and Airline Business magazine released Wednesday in Cannes, France, has forecast that spend on IT and telecommunications is likely to be just 1.7 percent of airline revenue.

March 27th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - While India's overall software exports have slowed down on account of the global slowdown, those from Kerala grew 43.41 percent till February-end, fetching a revenue of Rs.2,300 crore. 'While the STPI (Software Technology Parks India) figures for the country show a growth of 17.62 percent till February-end this fiscal, software exports from Kerala have grown at 43.41 percent,' said an IT department official who did not wish to be identified.

June 23rd, 2009 MUMBAI - Telecom major Idea Cellular Tuesday signed a Rs.145-crore agreement with Firstsource Solutions, a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider. As part of the agreement, Firstsource will provide for five years a suite of customer management interaction services, including customer service, billing, new product information and plan details to Idea from its centre in Coimbatore, the companies said in a statement.

July 27th, 2009 CHENNAI - The second phase of softyware park Infopark in Kochi, which may be developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, will come up over 160 acres, said a top company official here Monday. "We are getting into the second phase of Infopark's expansion.

October 10th, 2009 THRISSUR - Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Saturday inaugurated the third IT park in the state - Phase 1 of Infopark Koratty - and said that nearly 200,000 jobs in information technology sector would be created in the next two years.

August 14th, 2009 KANNUR - The cyber cell of the Kerala Police has traced down an e-mail threat from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) warning of serial bomb blasts in the state, if a separate Muslim state, comprising districts of north Kerala, is not created. Inspector General of Police Tomin Thachenkery said on Friday that a few media offices in the state had received the e-mail threat on Thursday.

September 10th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The two-day talks between the Kerala government and Smart City Dubai to take forward the proposed Smart City Kochi software township project turned out to be inconclusive, but both parties were confident that the deadlock would be broken. Emerging after the meeting, Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan, who led the Kerala delegation, said discussions were yet to be concluded and would continue.

January 16th, 2009 CHENNAI - The government-appointed board of Satyam Computer Services Limited will have to define the scope of work for the city-based Brahmayya & Co that has been appointed as the beleaguered IT bellweather's internal auditor, an official of the accounting firm said Saturday. 'We were sounded out about the assignment by the authorities and we gave our consent.