BRIEFING - ASIA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - MARCH 17, 2011.

17, 2011, prepared by Asia Pulse (http://www.asiapulse.com), the real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, commercial intelligence and business opportunities.

INGENICO TO PROVIDE IT SOLUTIONS TO INDIA'S IL&FS ETS

NEW DELHI - France-based IT firm Ingenico said it has entered into an agreement with leading Indian infrastructure firm IL&FS's education and technology arm to provide a smart card-based biometric financial inclusion solution for banking services.

The electronically operated banking system infrastructure has created banking Points of Service (PoS), spread across geographies, to provide banking service to the unbanked population of the country within three kilometres of their residence, the company said in a press statement Wednesday.

CHINA'S NO. 3 ONLINE GAME FIRM TO ENTER KOREAN MARKET

HONG KONG - Kingsoft Corp., China's third-largest online game company, said Thursday it has decided to export one of its popular online games to South Korea, the long-established powerhouse in the Internet game industry.

Officials at Kingsoft said it has signed a cooperation agreement with IMI Korea to grant the South Korean operator of an online game platform the right to operate its most recent series of "JX Online" in the neighboring country.

S. KOREA TO BOOST TECH-SECTOR INVESTMENT THIS YEAR

SEOUL - South Korea plans to invest 912.8 billion won (US$801.9 million) this year to promote growth of the information technology sector as part of its efforts to boost the industry's competitiveness, the government said Thursday.

The sum represents a 7.8 per cent gain from 846.4 billion won set aside by the government last year, with money to be used in four key areas -- new technologies, industrial standardization, personnel training and infrastructure building, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.

PROPOSAL TO SET UP BANGALORE BENCH OF CYBER APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

BANGALORE - A proposal has been given to set up a bench of India's Cyber Appellate Tribunal at Bangalore, according to Karnataka IT secretary M.N Vidyashankar.

Currently the CAT is located in Delhi, but efforts are on to have a Bangalore bench to decide appeal cases, he told reporters.

TAIWAN CHIP DESIGNERS MEDIATEK, RALINK ANNOUNCE MERGER

TAIPEI - MediaTek Inc. (TAIEX:2454), Taiwan's largest handset chip designer, announced Wednesday a share swap merger deal with Ralink Technology Corp. (TAIEX:3534) in a bid to enhance its competitiveness.

Under the merger, which will take effect Oct. 1, the two companies have reached agreement that 3.15 Ralink shares will be exchanged for one MediaTek share.

INDIA'S TCS GARNERS 150 SMB CLIENTS FOR CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE

NEW DELHI - Indian IT major Tata Consultancy Services (BSE:532540)) on Tuesday said it has acquired 150 small and medium business clients for its cloud computing service -- iON.

"iON has already garnered over 150 SMB customers," TCS said in a statement. TCS on Tuesday launched iON cloud computing service in Andhra Pradesh.

JAKARTA POLICE CHIEF TO PERSONALLY OVERSEE PARCEL BOMB PROBES

JAKARTA - The performance of the police officers investigating a spate of parcel bombing attempts on Tuesday is to be evaluated directly by Jakarta Police Chief Insp Gen Sutarman, a spokesman said.

"The parcel bomb cases are considered to be of such importance that the investigators` performance is going to be personally evaluated by the chief," Jakarta Police headquarters public relations officer Sr Com Baharudin Djafar said here Wednesday.

INDIA'S MAHINDRA SATYAM WINS 10-YR DEAL WITH QATAR SPORTS INSTIT

HYDERABAD - India's Mahindra Satyam, the brand identity of Satyam Computers (BSE:500376), has clinched a contract, estimated to be about US$200 million, spread over 10 years, from leading sports institute Aspire Zone Foundation.

As part of the contract, Mahindra Satyam will provide onsite and offshore support to Aspire on various application development and infrastructure services projects, Mahindra Satyam said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY TO HOLD CLOUD COMPUTING WORKSHOP IN INDONESIA

JAKARTA - The Australian Embassy in Jakarta will on Wednesday hold the first session of the Austrade Alumni and Education Workshop Series which will focus on the emergence of `Cloud Computing` as a significant new trend in the information and communication technology (ICT) arena.

In a media release carried by its official website, the embassy said the showcase aimed to promote Australia`s unique strengths in ICT and discuss how `Cloud Computing`, the latest niche sector in ICT, has the potential to greatly impact the way businesses across all industry sectors in Indonesia operate.

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ASIA PULSE RY 17-03 1738