Hyderabad: The Second Asia IT Ministers Summit Meet and IT Industry Forum will be held at Hyderabad with IT Ministers, as well as government and business delegations from over 24 countries participating at the event. The summit will take place concurrently with GITEX 2004, to be held at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh from January 12 to 14. During the summit, NASSCOM will conduct, iTech 2004 - a conference on eGovernance, ITES including (BPO), IT Services and Emerging Opportunities. GITEX 2004, billed to be the biggest Information Communication Technology event has attracted a roster of blue chip corporates, Indian as well as multinationals.

Among the participants who will showcase their products and services are Reliance, Infocomm, Satyam and Hindustan Lever Ltd Microsoft, Vanenberg Asia, HSBC, ADP Wilco, Iomega, STPI, HYSEA, L&T Infocity, BSNL, ELCOT, Tamil Nadu, Dubai Internet City, SAIF Zone, Sharjah, Department of Information Technology, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh .

"The growing interest from multinationals based in India has been very encouraging for our show and more and more international exhibitors from the Middle East, USA and the Far East are displaying a keenness to participate in Gitex this year," said Abdulla T. Qassem, General Manager, Exhibitions, Leasing and Property, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), the organizers of GITEX.

GITEX has become synonymous with information technology and
communications. It was launched in 2002 to serve the huge
Indian market and has over the last couple of years become an excellent business platform for companies to display latest technologies and launch new products and services.

This year, while the main exhibition will retain its exhaustive focus on
trade professionals, consumers looking to purchase computer equipment and electronic gadgetry can do so at the GITEX Computer Shopper that has been added as a new component to the event this year to target those seeking to purchase equipment for their personal use.

"Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) will showcase its IT-based rural
information service, Project Shakti during Gitex Hyderabad 2004," says Sharat Dhall, marketing manager HLL. Project Shakti, is aimed at creating income-generating capabilities for underprivileged rural women by providing a sustainable micro enterprise opportunity.

HLL is implementing I- Shakti in partnership with a variety of organizations in the Government, non Government and private sectors, which aims to impact the livelihoods of 100 million people across by 2005. I-Shakti, has been developed to provide need-based and demand driven information, goods and services across a large variety of sectors that impact the daily livelihood opportunities, living standards and health and hygiene awareness of the village community.

Satyam Infotech is another major participant. According to K. Thiagarajan, Satyam's director and senior vice president "We see Gitex as an important platform in furthering our trade relations with organizations in the Gulf and Europe. Satyam has a significant presence in these regions and is supported by full-fledged development centers. Satyam will showcase its core competencies focused at various industry segments and in different technology areas that would interest visitors from these regions."

R Balachandran, CEO, Reliance Infocomm Ltd, which is also participating in GITEX, said: "The Reliance Infocomm AP network supports a customer base of over 5 lakh customers . Our participation in GITEX will mainly showcase wireless products and features, and demonstrate WirelessInternetAccess, which is tremendously useful for mobile professionals; and R-World's amazing range of features.