One to three

Pune: Last week city-based DiviNet Access Technologies Ltd (www.divinetaccess.com) announced in Mumbai that the world''s new ''convergence'' technology named RAMNet (remote access metropolitan network), which was recently branded as ''Wice.Man'' (window to information, communication and entertainment-based metropolitan access network), for the masses will be introduced by mid-August 2003.

What''s so special about this technology? "Through this indigenously developed technology, today, for the first time in the world, every home can access TV, the Internet and telephone (video, data and audio) with a single-point connection through the set-top box Wice.Man," DiviNet Access Technologies CEO and managing director B P Narayanan tells domain-b.

Narayanan is ecstatic about the new technology and he foresees a great future for it. "We are expanding the implementation of our innovative technology, Wice.Man, to Mumbai. We just signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard with Hiranandani Constructions to make available this technology at their Thane and Powai construction projects."

To begin with, the company will introduce this technology in 16,000 flats of the Thane project of the Hiranandanis. "We have got several other queries to introduce this technology in other parts of Mumbai which are under consideration," explains Narayanan.

DiviNet started the phased role-out of Wice.Man services in Pune with 130-km fibre-optic network and wiring about 200 buildings to connect 3,000-plus houses so far with an initial user base of 500 houses. In fact, DiviNet covers almost 60 per cent of Pune that can facilitate to connect at least 85,000 households in one go.

"As a step forward, we are planning to implement this technology in 20 major cities in the coming two years with the help of local multi-system operators s and telephone companies. We have already started the process of implementing this technology in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. In this direction, DiviNet is also seeking joint ventures with service providers and venture capitalists to take this technology all over the country, and even abroad," says Narayanan.

While revealing the financial details of the entire project, Narayanan says: "So far we have invested around Rs 14 crore in the company. The investment was required for creating a necessary network infrastructure to connect 1 lakh user-base in Pune, which is in place today. We are now seeking fresh investments for our upcoming projects in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Many firms in India and abroad have evaluated our organisation (and our technology), and they have realised that the company is valued at Rs 250 crore."

Wice.Man has already been termed as a unique network created to provide ''convergence technology'' at an affordable cost. Unlike other broadband technologies like asymmetrical digital subscriber lines and cable modems, which are predominantly used for Internet applications, Wice.Man offers the Internet as one of the applications. It also offers solutions for services based on digital, video and audio, which support a large number of simultaneous users.

This technology at present targets home, small-office-home-offices, large business houses, and hospitality, corporate and IT sectors, enabling them to obtain high-speed, low-latency connectivity.