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Wipro Domino Net Services launched

Priya Ganapati in Bombay

Wipro Communication Services has launched a Web enabled, round-the-clock, groupware called 'Wipro Domino Net Services'.

In collaboration with Lotus India Limited, Wipro is offering the

T O D A Y

• Science & prescience • Wipro's Domino bet

communications system package that it claims would be tailor-made to customer needs.

"The Domino Net Services will give the Indian corporate customers a robust network service. It will allow them to exploit the benefits of the powerful collaborative application of Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino without worrying about the complexities of running and maintaining a network," Wipro Communication Services CEO Anand Talwai explained.

Notes is a software from Lotus that combines messaging and groupware. It gives individuals and groups within an organisation the ability to network from any location.

Lotus Domino provides an integrated set of services to allow corporate houses to create secure, interactive business solutions for the Internet.

Lotus India Country Director Rahul Nanda is thrilled about the partnership with Wipro Communication Services. "The strategic alliance of Lotus with Wipro will provide customers the reliability and cost effectiveness of Wipro's communications services along with the advantages and benefits of Lotus Domino and Lotus Notes solutions," he enthused.

Domino Net Services offers three forms of communication services; each aimed at different sets of customers. The services comprise of a 'business host', 'business hub', 'business community' and a messaging gateway facility.

'Business host' addresses the small and medium business segment and would provide hosting services for Notes clients. This would mean that these customers would not have to invest in a server of their own. The Domino clients could link up with the 'shared Domino server' provided by Wipro for hosting their Notes clients and operating their network.

A company statement claimed that this would give customers from the small and medium business segment the benefit of a readily available Notes/Domino network at a minimal one-time investment.

The 'business hub' targeted at the medium and large business segment provides hosting services for multi-location Domino/Notes server endpoints on shared Domino hosts provided by Wipro.

The endpoint servers would have local access to the Domino host, which would act as a hub for data sharing between endpoint servers.

Wipro also launched a business-messaging gateway that brings a messaging solution to the customers of Domino net services.

Wipro has messaging gateways to the Internet, fax systems, cc:mail, MS Mail and the X.400 world. This would help link Notes users to the global messaging community.

Wipro Communication Services Marketing Manager Nirmala Kamath elaborates on the conveniences of using Domino Net Services. "With this product we offer a readymade network infrastructure for Domino and Notes. The customer has the advantage of low initial investments. He has flexible recurring costs due to a custom-made package provided to him. There is also a reduced technology risk as we constantly upgrade, thereby protecting against technological obsolescence."

Kamath assures that the product is priced reasonably. "There is an initial sign-up fee which is a one-time charge. For small and medium sized businesses, it would be Rs 2,500. Then based on the usage we would charge either in terms of connectivity or megabytes of information downloaded.

"The typical rates would be Rs 500 per hour during the peak hours of 8 am to 8 pm. Or it would be Rs 600 to Rs 800 per MB in the peak hours. We would be giving a lot of concessions during the non-peak hours. The charges then would be Rs 300 to Rs 500 per hour or MB of information downloaded," Kamath promises.

Nanda is quick to distinguish the service from those that are currently offered by companies like IBM or Satyam Infoways.

"Most services in the country are offered in a regulatory environment. The most important thing for the end-user is whether he can get reliability, security, integrity of data and online support whenever there is a problem. Unlike these organisations, the services that we offer collectively take care of any requirement for any corporation," he boasts.

Nanda dismisses doubts about the security of the network. "There are two levels of security in the services. There is a network security arrangement that authenticates every user who logs on. Besides, Domino Notes also has inherent security arrangements that ensure that the different companies using the server have their own domain names," he clarifies.

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