IntelliGroup Asia Pvt Ltd., Hyderabad, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based IntelliGroup Inc., and SAP, Singapore, have signed a 'National Implementation Partnership Agreement' which will help IntelliGroup Asia to expand its operations in the Indian region and deliver enterprise-wide solutions with SAP/R3 to Indian companies. The agreement will help both the companies to compete in the global market effectively by optimizing their resources.

Delhi-based Unicorp Industries Limited (UIL) has entered into a tripartite agreement with International Computer Systems (ICS) of UK and TBL, which is a of Telecom Consultants India Limited (TCIL), for the marketing and sales operations in India for ICS's software : BANKS (Banking Automation System for Integrated Services), which is used for all banking activities, including front office and back office operations and investment activities. The software provides interface for external services and data for corporate management information.

CMC Ltd, as part of its expansion plans, is planning to form separate companies with its partners - Baan Company of Netherlands and NCR Corporation of US, for worldwide distribution of its software products.

In the current year 1997-98, CMC plans to increase the volume of export of its software products to reach Rs. 60 crores ($17 million), from Rs. 35 crores ($10 million ) in the previous year.

Chennai-based Kumaran Software has entered into a joint venture with Open Systems Lab (OSL) of Japan recently. The joint venture envisages Kumaran holding 50% equity stake and the Japanese partner - a Kumaran product distributor for the past three years - taking the balance. Named 'I-CAN', the new firm will provide consultancy services and solutions for Japanese customers. The joint venture company will offer many services for the Japanese customers including analysis and design, application re-engineering and migration, system enhancements, prototyping etc.

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd., HCL Corporation and Ionic Systems announced recently a strategic alliance to provide total solutions for retail and corporate banking.

This alliance offers Indian banking customers integrated branch retail and corporate banking application solutions developed by Ionic, based on Microsoft Windows NT server and Microsoft SQL server, and totally integrated by HCL Corporation.

Bunka Orient India Pvt Ltd (BOI), a joint venture between AOI International Pvt Ltd., and Bunka Orient Corp. (BOC) of Japan, has been set up. The equity breakup of the joint venture is 40:60. BOC is a leading supplier of ActiveX components in Japan. The company is a Microsoft solution provider, providing consulting and development services for client server and Internet/Intranet systems, based on Windows and Backoffice family of products.

BOI is the newest member of the BOC group. The company will provide development tools, comprehensive training and consulting services to the IT industry in India as well as act as an R&D centre for the BOC group.