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Sandpaper Newsletter
August 2005
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BITS in the news
Alumni news
BITSAA News
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BITSians finish Runners-Up in Imagine Cup 2005
Ishan Shukla and Mayur Karthik, BITS, Pilani's contestants at Imagine Cup 2005, competed and got the Second Position and award of $4000 in the Imagine Cup 2005. They were to travel from Mumbai in the last week of July 2005 to Yokohama Japan and thanks to the great Mumbai rains their dreams were almost shattered.
But an alternate travel plan was worked out and they hit the destination but their competition time for shoot out was cut from 36 hours to 18 hours and despite all these, they made it to second position. ur showed typical BITSian gumption and character, meeting challenges and unknown situations and getting on top of them with little fuss.
BITS Pilani & ESO Chennai Collaboration An Eye Opener
To address the issue of Human Resource Development for blindness prevention, BITS Pilani a decade back launched BS Optometry, MPhil Optometry as well as Doctoral Programmes in collaboration with the Elite School of Optometry (ESO), a constituent institution of the Medical Research Foundation established by Sankara Nethralaya, the Chennai- based premier eye care and research centre.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of ESO, EIVOC -- ESO International Vision Science and Optometry Conference is being held at the Le Royal Meridien, Chennai from August 13-15, 2005.
The plenary talk for EIVOC was given by Prof Jay M Enoch, Dean Emeritus, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, USA on "Archeological Optics: The Very First Known Mirrors and Lenses". The Chief Guest for the Conference Inauguration was Dr H R Nagendra Vice Chancellor SVYASA Bangalore.
EIVOC features various sessions covering Ocular Diseases & Diagnostics, Ocular Physiology, Contact Lenses, Dispensing Optics, Myopia, Low Vision & Rehabilitation, Yoga & Eye, Binocular Vision and Tele-Optometry. Featuring 20 internationally renowned scholars, EIVOC provides a great opportunity for eye care professionals and researchers in India and abroad to establish and update collaborations.
EIVOC will undoubtedly be an important milestone for the curriculum enrichment of the collaborative Optometry programmes of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani and take the Institute forward in its Mission for Education in Vision Science and Optometry.
BITS Pilani & RLINS Madurai Collaboration Sailing for Successs
BITS Pilani has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with RL Institute of Nautical Sciences - "RLINS" Madurai for conducting the BS Marine Engineering Program approved by the DG shipping conforming to the standards of STCW of IMO for developing Human Resources for the Merchant Navy profession to counter the shortage of qualified Maritime Officers for Merchant Navy arising due to increase in maritime activities.
RL Institute of Nautical Sciences - "RLINS", Madurai is a unit of Subbalakshmi Lakshmipathy Foundation ( SLF ) promoted by Dr R Lakshmipathy a doyen of the Newspaper Industry. The facilities at RLINS, Madurai include T S Meenakshi a ship in the Madurai Campus apart from Full Mission Engine Simulator, Full Mission Ship Manoeuvring Simulators. RLINS, Madurai is a certified institution by the Indian Register Quality System ( IRQS ) to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 apart from CRISIL rating of "Very Good".
On 21 August 2005, at RLINS Madurai, a batch of 60 cadets who have successfully completed the BS Marine Engineering program in July 2005 were awarded the Transcripts and Provisional Certificates by Prof L K Maheshwari, the Pro Vice Chancellor and Director of BITS Pilani.
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| Alumni News |
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Prabodh Vyas, BITS alum, appointed Gigabyte MD |
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Prabodh Vyas has been appointed MD of Gigabyte Technology (India), a joint venture between D-Link India and Gigabyte Technologies, Taiwan.
Prabodh was earlier the Director-Sales & Marketing, D-Link India. He in his capacity as MD of Gigabyte Technology (India) will formalize the strategic focus of the company and spearhead its initiatives for the India market. He has vast experience in the areas of Production, R&D, Sales & Marketing and as a profit center head.
He has over 28 years of experience and holds a BE (Hons) in Electronics from BITS, Pilani.
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BITS alumnus named Grant Thornton India's new Practice Director |
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Sharad Subramaniam was appointed the Practice Director, Project Finance for Grant Thornton India's Corporate Advisory Division, based in Bangalore.
He carries with him rich experience of 19 Years in international professional services for the Oil & Gas industry and Indian based intensive networking in South & South East Asia. His last assignment was as Head International Business and he was responsible for all matters pertaining to International Business Development with CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory Services (Bangalore).
He is a Mechanical Engineer from BITS, Pilani with an MBA in Strategy and Finance from University of Pittsburgh.
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Oracle to buy majority stake in I-flex Solutions |
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Business software maker Oracle Corp. said Tuesday, Aug 2 that it agreed to purchase up to 61 percent of India's i-flex solutions, a banking software maker, from Citigroup Venture Capital and public shareholders.
Oracle will acquire Citigroup Venture Capital International's 41 percent stake in i-flex, and then -- as required by Indian law -- Oracle will make an open offer to purchase an additional 20 percent of i-flex's outstanding shares from the remaining shareholders. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2005.
"I-flex is the hottest software company in the banking industry, signing more new customers than any other banking software company in each of the last three years," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. I-flex is currently being headed by Chairman and CEO, Rajesh Hukku, an ex-BITSian.
Software products from i-flex support corporate, consumer, investment and Internet banking, asset management and investor services. The company said i-flex has provided software and services to 575 banks in 115 countries.
Oracle said the current i-flex management team will continue to run the company and will align product development, sales, marketing and services activities with Oracle. Oracle President Charles Phillips will join the i-flex board, and i-flex stock will continue to trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
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"I like people who dare to dream big": Rajesh Hukku |
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i-flex (recently taken over by Oracle), under the able leadership of CEO Rajesh Hukku (a BITS alum) had become one of the largest financial software majors, with a revenue of $185 million, net profit of $40 million and a market share of $1 billion in the financial year 2004.
A day after US based Oracle bought out CitigroupĒs majority stake in the company, Hukku spoke to Business Standard in an informal tete-a-tete. |
Read more about his ideologies -- and his favourite filmstars -- in his interview by Business Standard
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Pinnacle Systems' acquisition by Avid sealed for $310M |
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Avid Technology Inc. sealed its acquisition of Pinnacle Systems Inc. on Wednesday, August 10.
Pinnacle Systems was co-founded in 1986 by Ajay Chopra, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from BITS, Pilani. Chopra, in his role as COO, was responsible for product development & strategy, product marketing, global operations as well as customer service and support.
Avid issued 6.2 million shares of stock and paid $71.3 million in cash to buy the company for a total cost of about $310 million, based on Monday's closing price for Avid of $38.45 per share.
Avid makes and sells digital media-editing technology, largely to professional production companies and broadcast networks. Mountain View, Calif.-based Pinnacle (Nasdaq: PCLE) sells professional-grade editing technology, as well as consumer video-editing software.
With the acquisition, Tewksbury, Mass.-based Avid has formed a consumer division that will retain the Pinnacle Systems name and be located in Mountain View. Pinnacle's broadcast offerings will be integrated into Avid's video division in Tewksbury.
Jeff Hastings, the former COO of M-Audio, a company Avid bought last August, will be vice president and general manager of the Pinnacle Systems division.
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BITSAA News |
| BITS loses Sierra Atlantic Cup 2005 to ISB but wins hearts |
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BITS Pilani lost the Sierra Atlantic Cup 2005 match 0 - 3 to ISB, but looked outstanding in their new uniforms and gained enormous respect from ISB Director and the students who showed up. It was a great match, led by Kaushik Mukherjee of Pilani. VK Menon, ISB Director said it was the best showing of any event by ISB students. He was very impressed with the organization, the smart uniforms and mementos. There were over 50 BITSian supporters. ISB has organized and invited BITS-only exclusive events around in India, USA and Canada to substantially increase 2006 admissions. We are thankful to Sierra Atlantic Chairman, Raju Reddy for his generous sponsorship of the event.
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| Radiant Systems Golf Cup: BITSAA - TiE East Coast Golf |
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The BITSAA - TiE East Coast Golf was conducted last month for which 52 golfers showed up. Rahul Banerjee (BITS) was the winner, and Uday Mahtani (TiE) was the runners up with 85. which won him the Radiant Systems "Runner-up" prize. The KaizenTek "Best T'eam" prize was won by Team 3 comprising Casey Sharma, BITS (106), his son Avinash Sharma (103), Uday Mehtani, TiE (85) and Rakesh Nangia, BITS (103).
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| BITSAA Event -- Pacific NW Cricket |
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The Pacific NW chapter is getting ready to launch our first BITSAA event, Pacific NW Cricket.
Date: August 21, 2005 (Sunday)
Time: 10 A.M till close of play (depending on how many teams register -- we have a maximum of 8 teams)
Location: Microsoft Soccer Fields
BITSAA Contacts: Arun ( adraghavan@hotmail.com ) |
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BITSConnXion'05 |
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An evening of musical extravaganza in a typical Music Nite style and performed by ex-Music Clubbers in Bangalore.
Date: August 20, 2005 (Saturday)
Time: 6:30 PM onwards
Location: New Auditorium, N.M.K.R.V. College, Jayanagar, 3rd Block, (Opp. Kadambam, next to Nanda Theatre), Bangalore - 560011
Tickets: Entry to this event will be free for all BITSian alumni (and their immediate family -- spouse and dependent children) who enroll as members in BITSAA-Bangalore.
BITSian alumni who want to attend this music event, but would like to defer their membership decision to a later date for whatever reason, may collect an non-member entry pass on payment of Rs. 50/- for each person (self, spouse and other relatives).
BITSAA Contacts: For Details visit www.bitsaa-bangalore.com
We will the alumni community posted on further developments. |
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BITSAA Event - Singapore Get Together |
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"Nagarji has made a private equity investment in Harrys at Boat Quay! And to celebrate it, he has invited all Bitsians in Singapore to come by Harrys on Friday, August the 12th at 6:30 PM. Of course Nagarji going global, he has decided to do away with 'Baad mey'. It is time that this group stops sacking around and get together for a couple (or as much as you can handle) of drinks and french fries or onion rings or satays. The family gathering has been a talk of town for ages but nothing has moved. It is time we do that. But for starters, lets atleast get back together."
RSVP Time: 6:30 PM onwards
Location: Harry's Bar in Boat Quay
Tickets: Transportation:
BITSAA Contacts: Kanags (Mobile No.91281496) |
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BITSAA Southern California Reunion |
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The BITSAA-Southern California chapter is planning to have a reunion on August 20th, 2005. To reconnect with friends, rediscover fellow bitsians and their amusing anecdotes mark your calendars on this August 20th to enjoy a memorable afternoon. Details regarding venue and timing will be posted on this website and BITSAA-LA Yahoo group. If you are interested in becoming a member of the BITSAA-SoCal(LA) chapter do subscribe to BITSAA-LA-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. |
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