Bangalore: It was a glittering evening at the Taj Westend Hotel on August 2 at the launch of Bangalore IT.COM, Asia's largest Information Technology event. And the news of the evening was the announcement by the Karnataka's IT and BT Minister D B Inamdar that the "IT industry is expected to generate over one million jobs in Karnataka alone in the next one year".

The evening was dotted with IT bigwigs, Kip Thompson, vice-president and general manager of Dell International Services, Prof Shivaram Manavalli, president of Mysore IT Forum, Bobby Mitra, managing director, Texas Instruments, B R Baliga, principal general manager Department of Telecom, Aravind Srinivas of Tata Consultancy, D B Inamdar Karnataka's Minister for IT and Tourism, Vivek Kulkarni, Karnataka's secretary, Department of IT and BT and of course Chief Minster of Karnataka S M Krishna.

Speaking on the occasion, Inamdar said that Bangalore IT.COM 2002 is expected to attract the attention of IT firms the world over. "This year's event will focus on BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), e-governance, banking and finance," Inamdar said.

"The event will also feature Rural IT Quiz (to be conducted by quizbrain.com, an affiliate of indiainfo.com), aimed to bring the educated rural youth to the fore, Students Internet World that will provide free access to Internet to all students during the event," he added.

"It has been a very challenging time for all of us, it is a point of inflexion for all of us and it is very important that we harness all our strength. It is at these moments of inflexion that great things happen; when things get tough, human genius works at its best," the chief guest for the evening Kip Thompson, head of Dell International Services said.

"I am impressed with the resilience that this city has shown in these tough times. I am delighted to see the importance that this community has given to education, infrastructure and most important of them all, people. As I stand before you, I share your enthusiasm."

Thompson went on to launch the book "Dataquest", releasing the names of 20 top IT companies, of which the first three (TCS, Wipro, Infosys) are Bangalore based.

This was followed by a colourful, multi media presentation of Bangalore IT.COM – 'There Is More To The Future', inaugurated by Chief Minister S M Krishna.

Bangalore IT.COM will be held between October 28 to November 1, 2002, at Palace Grounds, Bangalore. The event that attracted over 252 companies from 15 countries last year is expected to bring in more participants this year.

As yet another IT event is launched in the city, we hope for better things in the future, for IT to grow and bring many more accolades to Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.