Bangalore: The seventh edition of Bangalore IT.COM came to a close Bangalore today (Nov 5, 2004) with software major Wipro announcing its intent to acquire 100 acres of land for its software and BPO operations in Mysore.

Karnataka IT Secretary K N Shankaralinge Gowda told reporters that Wipro had sought 100 acres in Mysore and about 25 acres in Mangalore.

Wipro general manager C B Raghunandan said the firm would begin operations in about 18 months once the land is allotted to them.

Gowda said IT and BPO firm Mphasis BFL plans to hire nearly 3,000 people for its new operations to begin in Mangalore.

During the five-day event, Australian firm SINCO signed a MoU with TVS Interconnect and ANZ Trade Centre and Australia's e-Centre Innovations joined hands to set up a firm for taking up Indian IT capabilities to the Asia-Pacific markets.

Gowda said Business Intelligence Technologies had set up its India operations in Bangalore during the event.

Organisers claimed that 295 firms took part in the event attended by 1.5 lakh people including 40,000 business visitors but did not specify the value of business generated during the five-day exposition.

The State-sponsored student Internet world was organised in all the 27 districts, which, Gowda said, got overwhelming participation from students and masses.

The India semiconductor Association was formed during the event, to kickstart growth in the high technology area.