TM ties up with Motorola to form JV 'Canvas M' at $12.5 mln

New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran today unveiled the Canvas M service here, an 80:20 joint venture between Tech Mahindra and Motorola Inc, which will delevop and provide end-user VAS applications and content mobile services across multi access networks, to service and content providers.

Canvas M entails an investment of 12.5 million dollars, in which Motorola's contribution is 2.5 million dollars, while Tech Mahindra has put in 10 million dollars.

''Value Added Services (VAS) in emerging markets are important, and when India is getting ready for 3G spectrum , one will see that there is a need for a common platform for mobile services,'' Mr Maran said while unveiling the service here.

These services will have to be integrated with the equipment, billing software and operational support software.

The Canvas M portfolio includes messaging, location-based services, entertainment, e-commerce and enterprise productivity applications, which it will provide utilising Motorola's Global Applications Management Architecture (GAMA).

''In the future we will be talking of M-commerce (mobile-commerce) when people will be banking on it to pay their bills, and the mobile will get integrated as an essential part of your wallet,'' It is good, we have got an early start into this technology,'' the Minister said.

The joint venture will help service providers and enterprises that launch and manage the deployment of applications, to increase their differentiation, shorten time to revenue, and reduce total cost of ownership.

''The JV will revolve around VAS and application services, and we are aiming to create new markets. We are targeting content providers and the media,'' Tech Mahindra International operations President C P Gurnani said.

The venture will be headquartered in Noida, and will have two R&D centres in Noida and Bangalore.

''We are hoping to employ 50 people in these centres from both Motorola and Tech Mahindra within the next year,'' Motorola Network and Enterprise Corportae VP Srikanth Kannankote said.

Tech Mahindra will look after applications development and integration capabilities, while Motorola will contribute its applucations portfolio, delivery platform and mobile technology expertise.

The service has been globally launched a year back and will be available in India in the next couple of months. However, no details on the cost of the service in India are available.

Tech Mahindra is a leading provider of IT solutions and services. Formerly known as MBTA, a majority is owned by Mahindra and Mahindra, in partnership with British Telecom Plc.

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