Bangalore: Infosys Technologies, the leading IT consulting and software services company, today played host to Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of the software giant Microsoft.

Gates spent half a day at Infosys, meeting around 100 CEOs from across the country as well as over 2,500 developers, including 1,000 Infoscions, from leading IT companies in Bangalore. This is Gates' first visit to Infosys City.

Infosys, over the last two years, has had the privilege of playing host to a number of industry stalwarts and world leaders, including Craig Barrett and Tony Blair. Commenting on his time at Infosys, Gates said: ''Thank you for your great hospitality. I am very impressed with all that you have done here.''

As is customary, Gates planted a tree to mark his visit to Infosys. Accompanied by Infosys top management, including chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, and deputy managing director and chief operating officer S Gopalakrishnan, he toured the 52-acre Infosys campus, making a stop at the Infosys Microsoft Enterprise Architecture Lab (IMEAL).

IMEAL was set up when the two companies entered into an alliance to combine Infosys' capabilities in developing end-to-end business solutions with Microsoft's world-class products. IMEAL provides focussed training and support to technical specialists working on the Microsoft .NET platform.

The lab also showcases .NET capabilities of Infosys to customers and prospects through horizontal and vertical Proof of Concepts (POCs) developed at this lab. IMEAL helps provide architectural validation through final performance engineering testing, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) to customers.

Says Gopalakrishnan: ''We are honoured to have as eminent a person as Bill Gates with us today. India's importance as a global software centre is further enhanced by his visit. Infosys and Microsoft have been working together successfully to develop and support business applications that would best suit our clients' requirements.

''IMEAL is a key initiative in this direction - to study, develop and promote Microsoft's .NET architecture. Our alliance with Microsoft has been a successful one and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.''