ITTA-Pondicherry conducts its first official election

In a move to have an exclusive association for IT resellers’ community,
Information Technology Traders Association (ITTA) of Pondicherry conducted its
first official election last week electing new office bearers for the year
2004-05.

ITTA-Pondicherry was floa-ted in 2000 but maintained a low profile for
sometime be-fore registering with Registrar of Companies under Society Act last
year. "It was a long felt need to have an exclusive association for us and
it gained momentum during this year. Now, after the first official election, we
have set goals and agendas for the association and will strive to achieve it.
ITTA will play a significant role in promoting IT business in the region and it
will protect the interest of every reseller," said PN Prasad, Secretary,
ITTA.

Presently, it has 31 regis-tered members in the asso-ciation and working
towards a target of enrolling 60 members, in the next one month. "We have
fixed Rs 1,000 as the entry fee for a reseller to become member of the
association and he should be a registered player," he said.

The newly elected office bearers are S Ravikumar (Peripherals Care),
President; Suresh Kumar Soni (Auro Enterprises), VP; PN Prasad (Microplus
Computers), Secretary; Magesh (Magnanim Systems), Joint Secretary and Prabhakar
(CADDWARE), Treasurer. Besides this, it also has an eight member executive
committee represented by Sivakumar of Siarra Systems, Cyril Thomas of C&D
Systems, Ravidev of Excellent Computer Point, Rajesh of Indica Computers,
Saravanan of Trishul Energy Systems, Sridhar of Sukra Traders, Illango of Netlan
Connectors and Ravi of Corenet Systems.

"Soon, we will form an expo committee to conduct IT trade fairs and
other shows in the region. We are planning for a major IT event in July,"
said S Ravikumar, President, ITTA.

The association plans to meet every fourth Saturday of the month to discuss
the issues affecting the business. "We also have an e-group and
communication network to pass news on a real-time basis among the channel
partners. This is basically to alert resellers quickly on credit system
(financial status) of a particular reseller who seems to close down shop and
escape with the booty," said Suresh Kumar Soni, VP, ITTA.

ITTA is also planning to make a representation to the government to consider
local reseller while releasing some orders. "We would also move the vendors
to provide more technical education for our field staff and upgrade their
know-ledge and skills in IT," said Ravikumar.

S Gopikrishna

Chennai