Revolutionary New Release of igetit Designed to Disrupt Software Industry's Current Education Model

February 8, 2007; 06:31 AM

Tata Technologies iKS today announced at Solid Works World 2007 in New Orleans, LA, that its new release of igetit® is designed to radically transform the way engineering knowledge is delivered. In order to empower the individual engineer by delivering outstanding, wide-ranging value at incredibly low prices, Tata Technologies iKS has joined the growing list of premier companies who have adopted the SaaS business model. Their latest release of igetit to the marketplace incorporates the SaaS strategy. igetit is powered by Google and is the leading knowledge transfer solution already used by 45,000 engineers in 24 countries.

Commenting on the new business model, Kevin Noe, president of Tata Technologies iKS, said: "The software industry's current education model amounts to nothing less than the 'Prevention of Knowledge.' We at Tata Technologies iKS have noted the mounting frustration among America's engineers for whom improving their knowledge is an expensive and difficult or even impossible task -- because knowledge is tightly controlled by the software vendors. Our mission is to break down all the existing barriers to knowledge transformation, and we are confident that the new release of igetit will do just that, by providing not only access to more than 100,000 hours of professional on-line application training in every leading software package at an astonishingly low cost, but also by leveraging the SaaS platform to create a global community of engineers."

He stated: "If America is not to lose its global lead in engineering knowledge, we have to facilitate every engineer's ability to acquire knowledge, remain current in knowledge, and apply knowledge in order to be a better engineer. The existing industry education model as delivered by the software vendors simply does not do that."

Noe added: "the new igetit provides everything an engineer wants and needs -- from engineer tools, tips and techniques, blogs and forums, and personal knowledge customization, to the opportunity of showcasing their work on the igetit leaderboard. The site -- myigetit.com -- not only offers hard educational value, but the kind of fun features that will keep engineers coming back -- all at a very low price."

According to Noe, the last 5-6 years have seen the re-emergence of the ASP business [now termed SaaS] to meet clients' pricing, packaging and distribution requirements better than ever. By being able to re-architect software code efficiently over the web, restructuring pricing and packaging for a pay-per-use basis, and redesigning their channel strategy, Tata Technologies iKS is in an ideal position to provide better value to engineers.

"The landscape is changing quickly and it is no surprise that today's economic and competitive pressures make non-core competencies fair game for outsourcing, he said. "We believe this is what is making SaaS more attractive than ever as companies look to hosted solutions. The SaaS business model saves users a lot of money. Deployment is quick -- there is no installation. Delivery and maintenance become virtually non-existent issues, and the SaaS solution provider is motivated to provide better value and service past the point of sale because the customer pays on a subscription basis or pay-per-use mode."

Tata Technologies iKS represents a rapidly growing trend of traditional software development companies making the change in order to meet the expectations of a business world looking to the internet for solution delivery. Microsoft, SAP, IBM, and Oracle [traditional software developers] have each announced moves to capitalize on what IDC forecasts to be a growth rate for SaaS of 21% a year through 2009, reaching $10.7 billion. AMR Research shows that 78% of survey respondents are either currently using SaaS or plan to in the near future.

About Tata Technologies iKS:

Tata Technologies iKS (iKS), a global leader in engineering knowledge transformation technology, is a part of the $22B Tata Group. For over 15 years, iKS (formerly Cadpo) has enabled engineering knowledge transformation through igetit® and iCHECK® applications. The flagship product, igetit, is the only web application in the world that offers engineering knowledge delivery for AutoCAD, INVENTOR, Solid Works, Solid Edge, UG/NX, Teamcenter, COSMOS Works, and CATIA on a single delivery platform.

iCHECK is the industry leading application for managing engineering knowledge validation, and digital design methods/best practices. Over 45,000 engineers worldwide use iKS applications.

For igetit, visit www.myigetit.com

About Tata Technologies:

The Tata Technologies Group helps great manufacturers create great products. Through its operating companies, INCAT and iKS, the Tata Technologies Group is an emerging world leader in the provision of specialized Engineering & Design (E&D), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and product-centric IT services to leading manufacturers. It responds to customers' needs through its operations in 45 cities across 12 countries on three continents and through its delivery centers in the US, Germany, India and Thailand. The Group's customers are among the world's premier automotive, aerospace and durable goods manufacturers.