Printer Friendly
The Free Library
19,122,084 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Sify iWays Cross 3000 Cyber Cafes in 149 Cities & Towns in India; For over a Million Indians, iWays Are Now a Way of Life.


CHENNAI, India -- Sify Limited, a leader in Consumer Internet and Enterprise Services in India with global delivery capabilities (Nasdaq: SIFY), announced today that its unique 'iWay' cyber (1) From "cybernetics," it is a prefix attached to everyday words to add a computer, electronic or online connotation. The term is similar to "virtual," but the latter is used more frequently. See virtual.  cafe chain now numbers over 3100 cafes at 149 cities & towns across India, opening at the rate of about two a day. Of these, 34 are company owned, with the rest being franchised operations.

Sify's iWays were used by over a million Indians during the last quarter for a variety of services that include broadband Internet access Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is high speed Internet access—typically contrasted with dial-up access over modem.

Dial-up modems are generally only capable of a maximum bitrate of 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second) and require the full use of a
, Net telephony, online games and video conferencing See videoconferencing.

(communications) video conferencing - A discussion between two or more groups of people who are in different places but can see and hear each other using electronic communications.
. The Indian Market Research Bureau, in a 2004 report, estimates that about 70% of all Internet users Internet user ninternauta m/f

Internet user Internet ninternaute m/f 
 access it from cyber cafes. Sify's iWays provides a branded service that is unique, and enables users to enjoy broadband access See broadband and wireless broadband.  and a rich media experience that the vast majority of stand alone cyber cafes cannot match. In fact, iWays are an innovative delivery platform for Internet access See how to access the Internet. , scalable to deliver services to millions of users, in India or elsewhere.

Shrikant Joshi, President of Access Media, Sify, said, "With less than 5% of India's population online, and home PCs at 3.5 million out of a total of about 210 million homes, cyber cafes are going to be the primary means of accessing the Net for some time to come. According to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 IDC, India has the fastest growing Internet user base in the Asia Pacific Region. In fact, the Internet & Mobile Association of India estimates that Internet users will grow from the current 39 million to a 100 million by 2007. A majority of these users will be accessing the Net from cyber cafes. This is the market we are targeting for the iWays, with multiple services and revenue streams. We will also look at taking this successful delivery platform for Internet services to other countries who have similar levels of home PC and Internet penetration. "

Sify manages the service delivery centrally to its vast chain across 149 cities over its Tier 1 backbone infrastructure, with software and tools custom developed by its technology team. The software with which service delivery is remotely managed also manages the administrative & financial aspects of operations in a reliable, transparent manner, building credibility and trust with customers and franchisees. The innovative iWay delivery platform, combined with the high quality rich graphic content that Sify provides on its broadband content portal www.sifymax.com and on www.sify.com , make for a total user experience that is drawing many more users on to the Internet.

Customers are debited, from a prepaid charge for a specified number of hours, as per actual use in real time-which they can monitor when they are logged in, and renew online. Since the service is delivered off central servers over the network, customers can log in from any of the 3100 iWays from anywhere in the country with their log in id and password, and use the services exactly as they do from the iWay where they signed on. This gives them flexibility and makes their access 'portable'. The quality of user's experience is managed by Sify, and the customers 'owned' by the company.

The software, tools & technology that run the iWays are packed with innovation to ensure reliability, and the best possible user experience. Each PC is 'sanitized' the moment a user logs out of the system so that there is nothing left in the cache or history, so that users get a 'fresh' PC every time they log on. Updates of software, security patches A fix to a program that eliminates a vulnerability exploited by malicious hackers. See vulnerability and patch.  etc are remotely uploaded into every PC across the chain over the network by engineers from the command center in Chennai, South India South India is a commonly used term that is used in India to refer to the South-of-India or Southern India. The Southern part of the Indian peninsula is a linguistic-cultural region of India that comprises the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the . In addition, every PC can be monitored and reconfigured remotely to ensure optimum working condition using custom developed tools. This robust system is a proven and scalable model capable of scaling to many multiples its current size for remote delivery of services.

While Internet access forms the core service, Sify's iWays offer other services such as Online Games and Net telephony. Online games saw a growth of 50% in terms of usage with over a 1000 iWays being games enabled, and at special gaming cafes that Sify has branded 'Sify Gamedromes'. Net telephony also continues to grow, with the service available from familiar looking telephone booths which consumers find easy to use. The phones, however, interface with a computer using an application developed by sify, and make a Voice over Internet Protocol See Internet and TCP/IP.

(networking) Internet Protocol - (IP) The network layer for the TCP/IP protocol suite widely used on Ethernet networks, defined in STD 5, RFC 791. IP is a connectionless, best-effort packet switching protocol.
 call. iWays are also increasingly becoming centers for eCommerce for travel arrangements, paying for utilities, eGovernance services etc.

About Sify

Sify is a leader in Consumer Internet Access, Portals, and Enterprise Services in India, offering end-to-end solutions with a comprehensive range of products delivered over a common Internet backbone (communications, networking) Internet backbone - High-speed networks that carry Internet traffic.

These communications networks are provided by companies such as AT&T, GTE, IBM, MCI, Netcom, Sprint, UUNET and consist of high-speed links in the T1, T3, OC1 and OC3 ranges.
 infrastructure reaching 160 cities and towns in India. Consumer Services Consumer Services refers to the formulation, deformulation, technical consulting and testing of most consumer products, such as food, herbs, beverages, vitamins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, hair products, household cleaners, [paints, plastics, metals, waxes, coatings, minerals,  comprise of Access Media- with the over 3000 strong iWay cyber cafe chain across 149 cities and towns and broadband access to homes, and Portals with one of India's leading consumer portals www.sify.com, and India's first broadband content portal www.sifymax.com. A significant part of the company's revenue is derived from Enterprise Services, which include corporate connectivity, network and communications solutions, security, network management services and hosting. A host of blue chip customers use Sify's Enterprise Service offerings. The company's network services, data center operations and customer relationship management are accredited accredited

recognition by an appropriate authority that the performance of a particular institution has satisfied a prestated set of criteria.


accredited herds
cattle herds which have achieved a low level of reactors to, e.g.
 ISO (1) See ISO speed.

(2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI.
 9001:2000.

For more information about Sify, visit www.sifycorp.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements forward-looking statement

A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections.
 within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Sify undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements.

For a discussion of the risks associated with Sify's business, please see the discussion under the caption "Risks Related to Our Business" in the company's report on Form 6-K for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 which has been filed with the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area.  Securities and Exchange Commission and is available by accessing the database maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Publication:Business Wire
Date:Jan 25, 2006
Words:1037
Previous Article:Pricing Power a Key Concern for Smaller U.S. Companies, Merrill Lynch Survey Finds.
Next Article:Deutsche Asset Management and Columbia Management Announce CLO Sub-Advisory Arrangement.



Related Articles
Sify Opens 2,000th iWay Cyber Cafe in New Delhi; Bridges the Digital Divide in India Using State-of-the-Art Technology.
SIFY Reports US GAAP Results for the Quarter Ended 30th June 2005; Q1 Revenues Grow 31%, Year Over Year, to $23.5 Million; 2700 iWays Now Across 104...
Sify Webcasts Live the One Day International (ODIs) Cricket Matches between India and England!; Tremendous Response to the Official Webcast of the...
Sify Increases iWay Cyber Cafe Reach from 95 to 153 Cities Over the Last Financial Year; Furthers Integrated Strategy for Broadband Access & Content...
Online Games at Sify iWays Grow 100%; Number of PCs For Games Doubled Over Last Year.
Sify Enables Online Recruitment Examinations For IBPS; 867 Officers of Indian Overseas Bank Complete Promotion Exams from Sify iWays.
Sify Gamedromes to Conduct National Counter Strike Condition Zero Battle Tournament for the First Time; Tournament Starts 22nd September with 10,000...
iWays & IRCTC to Enable Online Rail E-Ticket Reservations against Cash Payment; Sify Ties up with IRCTC to Enable This Service from over 3400 iWays...
Sify Ties up with BillDesk for Utility Bill Payments Through Sify I-Ways.
SIFY Reports U.S. GAAP Results for the Year and Fourth Quarter Ended 31st March 2007.

Terms of use | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles