Upfront

Pal is IEEE Chairman

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), a non-profit, professional association of more than 377,000 members, has announced the appointment of the executive committee and its members for 2005.

Dr Surendra Pal, Deputy Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, has been appointed chairman of the committee, while Prof Selvarajan of the IIS has been appointed Vice-Chairman.

The IEEE promotes the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing, and applying knowledge about electro and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession.

Tally on Linux A popular accounting

software will soon be available on Linux: Red Hat and Tally will work in tandem to offer Tally on Tux. Says Bharat Goenka, MD, Tally Solutions, “We see this as one of our first steps in providing a low cost of ownership [proposition]. With this announcement, we will also be giving Tally users their choice of operating systems.”

The Indian SMB segment uses Linux for server-based edge-of-network applications. Says Javed Tapia, director, Red Hat India, “The objective of this partnership is to provide the SMB market a secure, stable and a cost-effective alternative for their computing needs.”

HP ties up with Rashi

HP has announced a tie-up with Rashi Peripherals to distribute commercial notebooks in India. Says Ravi Swaminathan, VP, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard India, “We have tied up with Rashi for their reach and experience in marketing value products.” Rashi, which is currently present in 36 locations across India, will focus on providing HP’s range of commercial notebooks to SMBs and large corporates using its pan-Indian reach. Its focus on B&C class cities can help HP gain share in these emerging markets for IT products.