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Divinet plans base at Dubai Internet City

Vimala Vasan

ABU DHABI, Oct. 29

THE Pune-based Divinet, which is one of the three teams that have emerged victorious in the first Dubai Internet City's (DIC) e-biz challenge, plans to set up a base at the DIC within a month. It is expected to begin rapid prototyping of its innovation for the international market.

Dr Vijay B. Bhatkar, leader of the team which won the contest against stiff competition from more than 1,300 entries from all over the world, told Business Line that the firm would study the terms and conditions for launching a base at the DIC and expect s to begin operations in a month's time. The team gets $150,000 as prize money. The two other teams, from the UAE, also received similar sums each to set up e-business ventures at the DIC.

Divinet won the contest for inventing a new broadband metropolitan application called RAMNet (Remote Access Metropolitan Network) that provides low-cost Internet access. Dr Bhatkar claimed the innovation would enable wider intra-city Internet access as w ell as Pay TV channel and telephony transmission. He said it would cost only half as much as currently available services and pose fewer problems.

Divinet is a two-year-old research oriented firm formed by technocrats with a capital of Rs 2 crore.

Dr Bhatkar said initially four staff members from the team would be involved in setting up the Dubai base and they would work on the engineering aspects. ``We hope to introduce the project in Maharashtra in six months time and a similar launch will be ma de at the international level through our base at the DIC. We will be talking to local companies here for strategic tie-ups,'' he added.

In Maharashtra, the company has tied up with a cable operator and is in talks with the Maharashtra Cable Operators Association in this connection.

Dr Bhatkar, who is acting as an advisor and guide to the Divinet team, strongly advocated the need for talented Indian professionals to find ways to work on their ideas, instead of just taking up a job at home or abroad. ``There is a lot of interest in good ideas as the DIC contest has shown us. It can serve as an example that there will always be interest and money, if a project is feasible,'' he said.